


Heaven Trying To Break Me

by blackrose_17



Series: Hidden Paths [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Torchwood
Genre: Community: casestory, Crossover Pairings, Learning to Work Together, M/M, Mention of torture, Minor Character Death, SHIELD does not like Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-07 13:39:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1901010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackrose_17/pseuds/blackrose_17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a much needed wakeup call Torchwood Three had finally begun to care for the pitiful few survivors of the Battle of Canary Wharf only to discover a disturbing truth, something is hunting down and killing the survivors of Torchwood One. This unnerving discovery leads them to believe that former Torchwood and now SHIELD agent Ianto Jones is on that death list. Ianto Jones is still in the process of healing mentally, physically and emotionally from being under the Cyberman’s control and the terrible actions they forced him to take. How will he handle working with Torchwood Three again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [ART - Heaven Trying to Break Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1855420) by [Tarlan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan). 



> Written for the case story bb  
> Beta'd by the always amazing RoyalLadyEmma  
> Amazing artwork by Tarlan check it out here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1855420  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or the Avengers if I did Clint/Ianto would be so canon

Christian Jones cursed vehemently but under her breath as her brand new Versace heels – a self-indulgent birthday/Christmas present to herself – slipped in whatever disgusting muck she currently was running through. She didn't dare look down but she was sure that at least once or twice a rat had run over her foot or brushed against her ankle and it was taking every ounce of self-control and restraint that she possessed not to scream. Fortunately or not, fear and terror had stolen her voice and continued to hold a tight grip on her heart as she ran through the darkened alleyways.

Echoing against the walls on either side of her, her breathing sounded overly loud even to her ears but she couldn't slow it down or her rapid heartbeat either. She couldn’t do anything but run for all she was worth, not with that... thing hunting her. _‘Safe!’_ she thought frantically _. ‘I_ _just_ _need_ _to get somewhere safe!’_   Christian was sure that if she could just find some place to hide there would be someone there who would protect her, but honestly she didn't know where such a place was. She’d taken so many twists and turns in her frantic flight that she wasn’t even sure where she was at the moment.

Straining to hear anything beyond the sound of her blood pounding in her ears, Christian was not reassured by the silence behind her. While she didn't hear any footsteps, the terrified young woman knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was being followed. For the past month nearly everywhere she’d turned she had seen a figure standing in the shadows and watching her with cold cruel eyes.

After enduring three weeks of terror she had called the Met but the police officer hadn’t given much credence to her claims, given that she could produce no proof whatsoever. For a brief, desperate moment she had even thought about turning to UNIT for help although she knew they wouldn't lift a finger to help her. As far as they were concerned she was damaged goods and thus beneath their contempt; she was after all, a survivor of Torchwood One and therefore permanently blacklisted.

"Oof!" Christian stumbled in a small pothole and fell to the ground wincing as she landed roughly on the hard pavement. Before she could recover a pair of black shoes stepped into view and hot tears immediately sprang to her eyes. "Please! Why are you doing this to me?" she whimpered in fear. She couldn't understand why he was tormenting her; until he’d started stalking her, she’d never seen him before.

Smiling cruelly, the words Christian heard did nothing to solve the mystery. "You stole what was mine and you need to pay," a low voice growled out as he knelt down to eye level with her. She was momentarily startled by the flash from the nearby street light as it reflected off the razor-sharp blade in his hands.

Christian's eyes widened at the sight but before she could open her mouth to scream a hand slammed over her mouth effectively cutting off all sound. "Shhh, sweetheart, don’t look so worried! We’re going to have some fun, just you and I. I am sure you must be wondering what this is all about and I don’t mind telling you; it’s not like you’re going to be sharing the information with anyone. See, you stole someone from me, someone who meant the world to me. Now, before you think I have singled you out as someone special, trust me when I say you are not.”

While her tormentor spoke, Christian cast her eyes around for anything she could use as a weapon but there was nothing. Undaunted by her inattention, the man continued, “All of Torchwood One needs to pay," he growled as he unexpectedly placed the blade down by his knee and wrapped his hands around her throat. As he slowly tightened his grip, he watched with sickening glee as Christian's eyes widened with horror as panic set in and he couldn't contain his hungry grin as she struggled weakly against his hold, her fists beating uselessly against his chest.

Finally, as she fell unconscious and her body went limp he released his grip, letting her head bounce against the pavement with a resounding _‘thunk’_ ; after all, he wasn't going to kill her, at least not in a filthy dark London alleyway. No, she needed to suffer first.

“They will pay, they will all pay,” he vowed to the darkness. He would watch them all, each and every one, breathe their last and then he would dance with glee as the light faded from their eyes. They would pay for the pain and suffering they had caused his bond mate; oh yes, they would all pay with their lives.

******

The truth can often be a hard pill to swallow and this instance was no different. Ask any one of them and they would tell you that it was leaving a very bitter taste in the mouths of Captain Jack Harkness, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Gwen Cooper and it all started when they learned the truth about their former colleague, Ianto Jones. Finding out that they had been wrong in their judgement of him had been a shameful experience, not that they actually knew anything about him in the first place. After all, not one of them had taken the time to actually get to know him; Ianto had been right when he’d accused them of never asking anything about his life.

_‘You clean up my shit, no questions asked…’_

It made Tosh sick to her stomach every time she thought about the fact that the entire time that Ianto had been working for them, waiting on them hand and foot, serving them coffee and cleaning up after them, for over a year in fact, not one of them had noticed that he was fighting a private and very painful war against a cyber-implant that had been controlling him ever since the Battle of Canary Wharf. For more than a year Ianto had suffered in stoic silence and not one of them ever noticed.

It had been a true shock to learn the truth about Ianto Jones, that he never actually belonged with Torchwood One or Three, that he had always been an agent of SHIELD and that only they had cared enough about their friend and colleague to check up on him. Tosh missed Ianto and it wasn't just for his amazing coffee but for Ianto himself. She missed his shy smiles when he left the good biscuits with her coffee and the quiet way he always said good morning as he opened the secret door in the Tourist Centre. She missed the way files and artefacts would appear just when she needed them and then disappear when she was finished with her work.

Toshiko wiped the tears from her eyes and sighed deeply; Ianto had worked in the Hub for an entire year but she didn't even have a single memory on which to reflect fondly. _'I'm so sorry, Ianto, but maybe it's best that you are away from those of us who never saw you and with those who truly care about you.'_ Given the long and difficult road of healing that he faced, Ianto needed his friends and family to help him deal with the fallout from the cyber-implant, Tosh could admit with a heavy heart that they were not Ianto's friends or family and that he had no reason to trust them.

 _'And why should he?’_ Guilt weighed heavily on Toshiko’s conscience. _‘After all, we treated him like he was dirt or something even lower than that. The only time we noticed him was when we needed coffee or something put away; any other time he was just background noise to us, not worthy of our time or attention. We may have failed you, Ianto, but I refuse to fail the other survivors,'_ Tosh vowed as her fingers flew across the keyboard with renewed purpose.

"Tosh, I need you to start tracking down the names and whereabouts of the remaining survivors of Torchwood One,” Jack ordered brusquely. “Hack UNIT’s mainframe if you have to, they should have a list or something and then see if you can't figure out what they did if anything to help them out. You’ll probably find that they pulled an us and simply washed their hands of the survivors." After holing himself up in his office for the last few hours, he had finally appeared, a look of disgust and resignation in his eyes.

Shortly after the startling revelation about Ianto’s true identity and allegiance, Jack had gotten in contact with Torchwood Two and he had gotten an earful from Archie. After enduring nearly twenty minutes of being harshly reprimanded in a thick Scottish accent, Jack silently hung up the telephone receiver. Unable to face his team, he buried his face in his hands and thought about all that Archie had said. He had no idea how close Archie and Ianto were, and the only other leader of Torchwood had made no secret of the fact that he did not appreciate Jack’s selfish indifference or the other's mistreatment of Ianto. Just before ending the one-sided conversation, the enraged Scotsman had made it abundantly clear how happy he was that Ianto was safely away from them and back with people who truly cared about him.

The Japanese computer genius had anticipated her boss’ instructions and her fingers were flying across the keyboard. "Already on it," Tosh informed Jack. Without looking up from her screen she began to create a program that would find the survivors, no matter where they might be. "But it's going to take time, Jack; we know nothing about them, not even their names. The only person I can think of who would know anything about them certainly isn't going to be talking to us anytime soon."

Around the Hub, the other members of Torchwood Three found themselves unable to look one another in the eye; they all knew who Tosh was talking about.

True to form, it was Owen who spoke out first. Snorting derisively at Jack, the medic crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. "Personally, I think that despite how we treated Ianto he would have helped us if we asked; it's those SHIELD bastards that are controlling him now. You know what? I bet you all lunch tomorrow that if we called them right now, they’d hang up on us the moment they heard our voice."

Owen's gaze cut to Jack and he made no effort to hide the anger in his eyes. “You better pray you’re as charming as you claim to be, bossman, cos that’s the only way we’re gonna get anyone from SHIELD to ever speak to us again." Torchwood’s snarky doctor refused to admit that he felt deep guilt, guilt for ignoring his basic duties as Ianto's doctor, for insulting, ridiculing and humiliating him whenever the opportunity arose, and for not seeing how much the poor man was suffering.

It wasn’t easy but he finally looked up at his team-mates, meeting their gazes one by one. "Let's face it; we all messed up, big time. We never wanted to see Ianto as anything more than the hired help, our own personal tea-boy. We all thought we were too good to interact with him all because of where he came from. I for one thought we were better than that."

While Toshiko and Jack hung their heads in shameful agreement, Gwen didn't see what the big deal was. Ianto was never a true member of the team; he was just some wretched sap that Jack had hired out of pity to help keep the Hub clean and organized. “It won't be _that_ hard to replace him,” she muttered under her breath.

“Something you’d like to share with the class, Gwen?” Jack raised an eyebrow.

Thinking quickly, the Welshwoman put on her most winning smile and batted her eyelashes. "Why do we have to do anything for the other survivors of Torchwood One? I mean, you told me that you cut all ties with them so shouldn’t we owe them nothing?" Gwen asked Jack deliberately lacing her voice with confusion. "You and Owen have made it abundantly clear that you guys believe they got what was coming to them, so why has that suddenly changed?”

Curious as to Jack’s response, Tosh paused in her frantic typing and looked up at the immortal; a quick glance sideways at Owen and she saw him rolling his eyes at Gwen’s over-the-top behaviour.

“Things change, Gwen, especially with Torchwood, you should know that by now.” Jack knew that didn’t answer the woman’s question, but he wasn’t prepared to examine or explain his sense of shame and guilt over the way he personally had treated Ianto.

Gwen narrowed her eyes in suspicion, wondering why Jack was avoiding her question. “I just don't get it, Jack. Do you really believe this crazy story about Ianto being controlled by Cyberman just because those people said so? And who is SHIELD anyway?” Gwen looked from one person to another; “I thought we were above the law?”

“Well, we are…” Jack started but Gwen just spoke over him.

“Besides we all know that Ianto wasn't really that important to the team anyway. _We’re_ the field agents here, not Ianto; _we’re_ the ones who go out there and risk our lives every day! He was just support and after what he unleashed on us he's lucky we didn't Retcon him back to nappies!” The volume of Gwen’s voice had risen has she’d spoken, making it very clear to her team-mates that she was more than a little sore that any of them were making a fuss over Torchwood’s pathetic tea-boy. It was also obvious that she thought very little of this other agency who had tried to run roughshod all over them and finally, she was still more than a little upset with the way Natasha had talked to her. _‘Who_ _does that bitch_ _think she_ _is_ _anyway?_ I’m _Jack's second-in-command and_ _I deserve_ _respect,_ _damn it!’_

Her anger barely controlled, Tosh leapt to her feet so quickly that her chair shot out behind her and clanged into the railing. "It matters because we never should have treated Ianto like he was nothing! Even if he were only the hired help, which he _wasn’t_ , no matter what you think, Gwen, he's still a living, breathing human being and we treated him like he was lower than dirt!” she hissed out angrily, her dark eyes flashing fire. “We treat Weevils with more respect than we ever gave Ianto!” 

Gwen was tempted to fall back on one of her favourite excuses when she’d messed up and claim that she was new and therefore didn't know much about what went down between Three and One but deep down she knew that that still didn't give her an excuse to treat Ianto the way she did. That fact just made her even more determined not to recognise Ianto Jones’ contribution to Torchwood Three. “You seem to be forgetting that that cyber-bitch tried to convert me!” She turned to Jack with crocodile tears brimming in her eyes. “Thank god you saved me, Jack!”

Jack said nothing; he just looked at Gwen as though seeing her for the first time.

"Tell me something, Gwen; you claim to be the heart of Torchwood, right? Isn’t that why you were brought in? Weren’t you supposed to remind us what it was like to be human?” Tosh’s voice was harsh. “You claim to be so much more human than the rest of us, then where was that humanity towards Ianto?" she snapped out.

“How dare you!” Gwen shouted. “I…”

"Okay, that is enough, both of you!” Jack was fed up. “We all made mistakes in our treatment of Ianto, me more than anyone. Tosh is right, no one should have ever been treated the way Ianto was. Yes, he was the hired help but he was more than that and we all know it. Ianto went out of his way to make our lives easier; he did everything from keep the SUV filled with petrol to keeping us filled with coffee and we treated him like he was dirt! We are all at fault here and each and every one of us should be ashamed of our behaviour towards a fellow human being.”

“But he didn’t deserve…”

Jack silenced Gwen with a single piercing look. “Put yourself in his shoes for one moment and think; if you’d been treated the way Ianto has been would you want anything to do with us?" Jack demanded, staring directly at Gwen Cooper. He liked Gwen, really he did; he’d seen something in her that reminded him of Rose. Unfortunately, his eyes were now open and he was seeinga woman that was so stuck on herself and so sure that her way of thinking was the only right one that she was unable to listen to anyone else’s opinions.

Not for the first time in recent days Jack found himself wondering how he could have compared Gwen to someone as compassionate as Rose Tyler. _‘Why_ _did I ever take_ _the_ _time to make Gwen a part of_ _my team when she clearly_   _doesn’t belong?’_

Jack had already experienced a mental battle with his conscience regarding the relationship – or lack thereof – between him and Ianto. Part of him said that he was hurt and bitter because while Ianto had indeed flirted with him, the soft-spoken Welshman had never made a move to act on his flirtatious comments despite Jack’s best efforts to the contrary.

Since leaving the Time Agency and striking out on his own, Jack Harkness had only been rebuffed one time and that was by the Doctor. The rejection by someone so very important to him had effected Jack deeply and Ianto’s disinterest simply made fresh the intense pain of missing his Doctor. Despite his best intentions to be the bigger man, Jack reacted viscerally and with pure bitterness; as retaliation for being scorned by the man to whom he’d given a second chance, Jack Harkness deliberately ignored Ianto Jones.

Then one cold, rainy night in Cardiff, along came police constable Gwen Cooper who was clearly in awe of him, who never bothered to hide her lust for him, and who openly reciprocated every flirty, teasing comment and gesture he tossed her way. Her blatant attention made Jack feel good, it made him feel manly and most of all, it made him feel desired. He wanted to hurt Ianto for rejecting him so he openly embraced Gwen and made her a favoured part of his team. Jack took every opportunity to rub Ianto's nose in the fact that he could have been the lucky recipient of all his attention if only he’d gotten down off his high horse and acted on their flirting.

Then out of the blue Lisa Hallett happened and a Cyberman was roaming loose in his Hub, determined to build a new army and take over the Earth. Yet even during the ensuing battle, beneath the anger and hurt over Ianto bringing that monster in to his base, his home, Jack realised that he felt a sense of understanding. It must have been a struggle for Ianto to not act on his feelings for him because above all else, Ianto Jones was a loyal man. He loved Lisa enough to risk everything to save her and that was the sole reason why Jack didn't Retcon Ianto.

That was why Jack allowed Ianto to return to Torchwood, because he wanted to experience that kind of unwavering loyalty for himself. Believing that the young Welshman was grateful for the second chance, Jack was totally shattered when he learned the bitter truth, that Ianto had been under cyber control the entire time, that at some point during the battle of Canary Wharf, he’d had a device implanted in the back of his skull. Jack had been sick to his stomach to find out that the thing – the monster – that had once been Lisa Hallett had been using Ianto, controlling him to ensure her own survival.

Jack felt such a strong sense of betrayal that it brought bile rising up to burn his throat as he realised that they had done the same thing to Ianto. They hadn't known their tea-boy wasn’t himself because they  couldn’t be bothered to take the time to get to know Ianto. It would forever be a black mark on Jack’s conscience that that failure had cost two people their lives and had almost cost Ianto his memories.

There was still the possibility that the team’s lack of humanity towards one of their own could cost Ianto Jones his life.

Despite all the soul-searching he’d done regarding Ianto, Jack still didn't know for sure exactly how he felt about the young man, let alone what the others were feeling. The only thing he knew for sure was that emotions ran high when they learned that Ianto had never truly been Torchwood but had belonged to SHIELD of all people.

It had been a horrible, gut-wrenching moment when Jack realised that if Ianto had actually slept with him it wouldn't have been Ianto choosing to share himself in the most intimate way possible, but rather the Cyberman forcing Ianto to use his body to keep the older man distracted. As far as Jack was concerned that would have been tantamount to rape and that realisation had sent him dashing to the toilet to vomit his guts out.  Later, as he’d leaned against the tub, wiping both tears and spittle from his face, Jack wanted to mourn the loss of Ianto Jones but he didn’t know how. _‘After all, I never_ _even knew him.’_

Wrenching himself back into the present, the immortal speared each member of his team with a steely glance. "We need to focus on doing what we should have been doing from the start and not sniping at one another. There’s no doubt that we all failed Ianto in one way or another and I will be damned if we’re gonna keep up that pattern," Jack finished giving each of them a look that dared them to question him. His gaze lingered on Gwen the longest, knowing that she always had the most to say to him, that she always had to challenge him at every turn.

He also knew full well that she wouldn't understand why he suddenly wanted, even _needed_ to help out the other survivors. He mentally prepared himself for the moment when she'd go overboard and rail against the team, calling them cruel and heartless and she’d start pushing what she believed they should be doing to help. She wouldn't stop to think that some of the remaining survivors were damaged, both  mentally and physically, some even beyond repair.

 _'I_ should _get in contact with Helena, just in case and see if there might be a place for them out in Flat Holm.'_ The idea of putting anyone, even Torchwood One survivors, out in a place like that left a bitter taste in Jack's mouth but he knew that it was a real possibility that may be the fate of a few poor souls. _‘I can only thank god that Ianto will never be one of them.’_

"But I don't understand, Jack; why do you now want to help them? Why didn’t you step in earlier? Explain it to me." On the one hand, Gwen was happy to see that Jack and the others were finally caring about those poor souls but what she couldn't understand was why Jack was suddenly willingly to help the survivors of Torchwood One. She felt the strong burn of jealousy knowing that Jack's change of heart had nothing to do with truly caring about the former Torchwood employees and _everything_ to do with Ianto bloody Jones. Anger began simmering behind her inquisitive smile; she simply could not believe the hold he still had on Jack.

 _'Well it doesn't matter; I know that Ianto was never really that important to Jack or the others. I’m going to make sure that Jack will soon forget all about Ianto and then he and I can move on to what really matters.'_ “What makes you think they’ll even be willing to accept help from us? After all you were the ones who turned your backs on them. Personally, I think it would be better to let Ianto and SHIELD deal with them," Gwen suggested. “It might be less traumatic for them to deal with neutral parties and a familiar face rather than with people they might see as the enemy.” As far as she was concerned, Ianto had been a part of Torchwood One and he could damn well clean up their mess. 

From the bottom of his heart Jack was glad that Ianto was far away from Gwen and her well-meaning but thoughtless intentions. Even though Gwen was a kind and caring person who meant well she rarely saw past her own selfish need to make things right. Unfortunately, that kindness came with a price; she never stopped to think about the damage she might inflict or if she was hurting rather than helping. 

"No, Gwen, this is not a matter for Ianto or SHIELD to deal with. _We_ were the ones who dropped the ball when it came to Ianto and the others and _we_ need to clean this mess up. I will not subject Ianto to this constant reminder of what he has gone through, not when he needs to heal.” There was a tone of finality to Jack’s voice. “No, we failed Torchwood One survivors and it's up to us, and no one else, to help them. Tosh let me know when you have something." Jack turned on his heel and headed back to his office; he had people, including the Queen, who wanted to know how this could have happened. Jack need to do some serious damage control and as he started making a mental list of who to call and what to say, he began to realise just how much Ianto had actually done for them.

Owen managed to hold his tongue until Jack's office door slammed shut with a bang strong enough to rattle the window glass before he whirled around to face Gwen. "You just couldn't keep your mouth close, could you?” he spat out angrily. “The only reason you don't want to face the truth, that you treated Ianto just like the rest of us did, like he was nothing more than a servant, so get off your high horse! I may not hide my dislike of Torchwood One or the fact that Ianto only got hired because Jack wanted an easy shag but then I was forced to face the truth. Ianto is an innocent soul in all of this and our anger, rage and most importantly our deliberate indifference towards him almost cost him his life.” Owen snarled. “It may still cost the poor sod his sanity."

"What do you mean? I thought SHIELD was giving Ianto the help he needs," Gwen demanded to know; she wasn't sure she liked where Owen was going with his accusations. Ianto would be fine; after all, didn’t Jack just say that he was with people who really cared about him?

It was Tosh who answered instead of Owen. "Ianto was under cyber control, which means that everything he did over the past year was not done by choice. He carries a tremendous amount of guilt for what he was forced to do even though he knows that he couldn’t have prevented any of it from happening. If anyone is the victim in this whole mess it’s Ianto. He was forced into slavery and he believes that he has the blood of two deaths on his hands.”

She paused and looked over at Owen, who nodded his head in agreement, before continuing. “He's going to be haunted by terrible nightmares for a long time to come. You have to understand that Ianto was literally trapped inside his own mind, unable to free himself, unable to tell anyone what was happening to him. Can you imagine how he felt, knowing that that cyber control implant was slowly killing him? Ianto already lived through so much just by surviving the fall of Torchwood One and then he comes here, thinking his life would surely get better only to find himself working as a despised servant for a bunch of selfish jerks.”

Toshiko sighed deeply, “Ianto has a long, hard road of healing ahead of him. The least we can do is make sure that none of the other Torchwood survivors suffer the same fate as Ianto did."

Gwen was quite taken aback as she realised that she’d honestly never thought of things in that light; she’d never paid much attention to Ianto Jones. After all, he hadn't been important enough to notice him unless it was for a cup of his sinfully delicious coffee or him bringing in their lunch or her ordering him to finish off her paperwork so she could leave early. _‘But that’s what he was hired for!’_ her guilty conscience tried to tell her.

Racking her brain for any information she might have about her former co-worker, Gwen realised that she didn't even know how old Ianto was. She could tell just by his appearance that he was quite young and yet he had already seen such horrors. Her gaze was drawn to Jack's office where she could see him seated at his desk, his face tight as he listened to whatever was being said on the phone. She wanted to go up there and comfort Jack, to be the strength he could call upon. _‘Jack needs me!’_

Correctly reading Gwen’s intentions, Owen shook his head. "Forget it, Cooper. Believe me, Jack won't be taking you up on what you’re offering; he was wanting the tea-boy long before you ever arrived on the scene," he warned Gwen.

Gwen sent Owen a glare that clearly said ‘mind your own business’; she did not like being reminded of Jack's ridiculous flirting with Ianto. _'Ianto couldn't have been that important to Jack, not when he ignored the insipid worm most of the time. Besides they don’t know that I’m Jack’s confidante and the he’s told me things he has never told the others.'_ "Owen, clearly this thing with Ianto is getting to Jack and he needs me to be there for him."

Owen rolled his eyes; he knew precisely the kind of support Gwen wanted to offer Jack and it made him wonder how he had slipped so far down the hole that he still wouldn't mind having Gwen in his bed, despite her panting over another. _'Katie, my love, if I still had you I might have actually cared enough about others to notice that Ianto needed help. God, when did I become such an uncaring doctor?'_ Owen knew he was a sorry excuse of a human being what with his constant drinking and promiscuous womanising, but he’d always prided himself on being a good doctor. Now he had to face the bitter truth: he had failed.

Tosh, unnoticed as usual by her colleagues, had slowly gone pale even as her eyes widened with alarm as she read the information on her computer screens. Shoving her chair back Tosh shot to her feet and made a mad dash for Jack's office, not even stopping when Owen and Gwen called after her. All Tosh knew was that she needed to talk to Jack and right now.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack hadn't liked Harold Saxon from the moment the man stepped into power, he liked him even less when Saxon continued to rake him over the coals for not seeing the danger _his_ Ianto had been in. Jack had bristled at that accusation even though he knew he didn't have a claim to Ianto, not when the young Welshman had a long-time partner in Clint Barton. From what little he knew of that particular SHIELD agent the man would probably shoot Saxon at first sight for daring to lay claim to Ianto. An image of telling Saxon exactly what he thought of him before shooting the insufferable bastard himself began playing through Jack’s mind so he was very thankful when a pale and shaky Tosh flung open the doors and stared at him, preventing him from saying something he knew he’d regret later. Instead Jack interrupted the Prime Minister’s on-going tirade with, "Mr Saxon I'm going to have to call you back; there’s an emergency that I have to deal with." Without waiting for a response Jack slammed the phone down.

Tosh didn't wait for Jack to ask her what was wrong, she just blurted out, "Jack, more than half the survivors of Torchwood One are dead!"

Jack froze and stared at Tosh for a moment, he didn't need to ask her if she was sure, the paleness of her face and her wide eyes was all the confirmation that Jack needed. "Do you know how?"

Tosh shook her head as she wrung her hands together in a nervous gesture. "There are both police reports and UNIT reports, but I didn’t take the time to read the details yet. Jack, from what I saw there’s twenty reports; twenty of the twenty-seven survivors are dead!"

Jack felt his knees grow weak and his stomach turn, twenty survivors dead, it just couldn't be possible. "I need everything you can find, Tosh, how they died, when they died, if they left any family behind and get me the names and locations of those who are still alive. I swear we will do everything we can to help those both gone and still among the living," Jack promised Tosh.

"You'll have it be the end of the day," Tosh vowed. Turning to go she paused with her hand on the doorknob as a thought struck her and she hesitated. "Should we alert SHIELD?" They both knew that she was really asking should they tell Ianto, unlike them Ianto probably truly cared about the remaining survivors.

"I don't know, Tosh, part of me thinks Ianto should be informed; he knew these people; they survived hell together. But at the same time I know he needs to heal and news like this could only set him back.” For several minutes Jack studied the graceful form of the coral growing on his desk as though seeking guidance. Finally he turned back to Toshiko with a deep sigh; “No, for now we'll keep this between us.” Suddenly looking every one of his many years of age Jack swallowed hard. "I don't want to cause Ianto any more pain."

Moving away from the door Tosh hurried over to Jack and wrapped her arms around him. "Listen to me, Jack Harkness; you are _not_ the only one to blame,” she said fiercely. “We _all_ played a role in isolating Ianto and anyone of us could have taken the first step in welcoming him or attempting to befriend him. Owen, Gwen and I are just as guilty as you are." Tosh did her best to relieve some of Jack's guilt and take her own share.

One look into Tosh's eyes and Jack knew that he wasn't the only who was missing Ianto and who wanted to make things right with the younger man. "I want to start fixing things with Ianto but I don't think that SHIELD would be too pleased with us trying to contact Ianto." No, Jack was quite sure that if any one of them dared to get in touch with Ianto there would be hell to pay. After ‘rescuing Ianto from their evil clutches’ SHIELD had told them just what they thought of Torchwood. The rather one-sided conversation included a few thinly veiled death threats along with dire warnings of exactly what would happen if they didn't stay away from Ianto Jones. Jack was certain that with Nick Fury it wasn’t a threat but a promise.

There was a knowing gleam in Tosh's eye and for the first time since the whole mess started she smiled, albeit just a little. "Given recent events, I think it would be wise to keep Gwen away from the Black Widow. I really thought that she was going to tear Gwen's throat out at while we all at Ianto's flat." Tosh liked Gwen, really she did, the former PC was still new and untainted by Torchwood; she hadn’t experienced the horrors the rest of them had seen.

Toshiko was aware that there were also times when Gwen used let her so-called ‘normal’ life, her bleeding heart, to hurt her co-workers. Worse, she never realised it how deep it stung those around her to be called cold and uncaring. The Japanese woman was well aware that Gwen considered her and Owen to be less than human just because they didn't have someone on the outside. So, all things considered, Tosh was a just little happy to have seen Natasha put Gwen Cooper firmly in her place.

Although he’d purposefully ignored the warning signs early on, Jack had finally opened eyes to the one big flaw with Gwen Cooper: she could be a stubborn and manipulative bitch in order to get her own way. So he wasn't at all surprised that she had butted heads with the Black Widow and as much as he shouldn't have enjoyed watching them, he did.

To his shame, Jack knew that he had been far too easy on Gwen, letting her get away with things that no one else could have or that would have gotten anyone else Retconned so fast that their head would still be spinning even as they forgot they’d ever heard of Torchwood. It was obvious to him now that Gwen definitely needed to be taken down a peg or two; she needed to lose her oh-so-superior attitude, her belief that everyone else was so far beneath her, even her own teammates.

Jack knew it was probably too late for him to do anything to get her under control at this late date, but he also knew he should at least attempt to get Gwen to show a little of that compassion he first hired her for. More than anything else, however, he also knew that she wouldn't listen to him, how could she when she was the only who was always right. "I hate to say it but maybe Gwen needed to be taken down a peg or two and something tells me that the Black Widow is the one willing to do it."

Quickly hiding both her surprise at Jack’s admission and her relief that something was finally going to be done about Gwen’s over-the-top attitude, Tosh smiled warmly at her box. "Jack, I have a strong feeling that whatever is happening to the Torchwood One survivors is so much more than we are seeing,” she admitted in a soft voice. She didn’t say anything to Jack, but she had this gnawing feeling deep in her gut that they were missing something big.

Jack's jaw tightened, Tosh wasn't the only one with a growing sense of dread. There was something that kept nagging in the back of his head, it kept repeating that ‘something isn't right here’. "Keep digging, Tosh, we need to know everything we can."

Nodding her head with satisfaction that she wasn't alone in her feelings Tosh gave Jack one last hug and placed a quick kiss to the top of his head. If it took her all night, she would find out what happened to those poor souls and if necessary, get them the justice they needed.

After Tosh left his office Jack's gaze was reluctantly drawn to his phone and he sat there for nearly a half an hour, time spent wondering how soon he would have to make that crucial phone call to SHIELD to inform Ianto about the loss of his friends.

*******

_He could feel the searing heat from the flames that were licking at his back as he stumbled against the crumbling wall; he tried to catch his breath but the acrid smoke burned his lungs. ‘I need to get out of here!’ he thought frantically. ‘I need to find the others!’ SHIELD had been right all along; Torchwood was too dangerous, playing with things they didn't understand._

_The screams of the dying filled the air, their agonised cries echoed in his head as he passed room after room, each containing shining metal monstrosities, and each conversion unit containing bodies in various stages of horrific transformation. Ianto did his very best to not let the sight of people he knew but trapped in a living hell get to him. Ianto forced down the bile that kept trying to rise up in his throat._

_"Ianto! Ianto, help me please!"_

_The plea was faint but it was enough to stop Ianto in his tracks and against his better judgement he turned back a few paces. Summoning his courage, Ianto pulled his coat up over his nose and entered the room only to find Lisa Hallett trapped in a cyber-converter. He didn't know Lisa very well; he’d seen her in mail room once in a while and more often in the break room. He remembered that she usually flirted with him, not that Ianto ever let it go anywhere; he was perfectly happy in his relationship with Clint._

_"Lisa, I'm so sorry!” Ianto might not have feelings for her but no one deserved this kind of fate._

_Lisa favoured Ianto with a pain-filled smile. "Help m…” she coughed weakly, “please, Ianto."_

_One look at Lisa and Ianto knew that he couldn't do anything to help her or any of the other trapped souls. "Lisa, I don't know how to help you." He gave her hand a sympathetic squeeze and wondered if it wouldn't be more merciful to simply put a bullet in her head to end her suffering. ‘That’s what I would want, if this were me.’_

_In a flash something changed in Lisa eyes; they became cold, dark and empty as her metal-encased arm broke free of its metal bonds, grabbed Ianto by the throat and pulled him in so close he could feel her breath on his skin. "You will help me, Ianto Jones; this world will be upgraded."_

_The cold metal hand slid around to the back of his neck and Ianto felt burning, blinding pain at the base of his skull. More frightened than he’d ever been in his short life, Ianto struggled to break free but that only made the pain worse; couldn't keep the terrified scream from clawing its way up his throat and breaking free as something burrowed its way into the back of his head._

_The last thing Ianto remembered hearing before the cold, hard hand released him to drop gracelessly to the floor and he blacked out from the pain was a metallic voice declaring, "You will serve us nicely."_

_For the next year Ianto watched as though from behind a thin veil, trapped inside his own mind and screaming for anyone to help him. But no one paid any attention to him and so he remained imprisoned in an empty void watching as the Cyberwoman once known as Lisa used him to infiltrate Torchwood Three. He became invisible and being so thoroughly ignored left scars on his soul. Ianto faded into the background so well that not one of them noticed that there he went days without eating, days when he was so crippled by the pain of constantly fighting for his very survival that he could barely move._

_Then it happened, his weeks of careful planning and anxious waiting went to hell in a hand basket. Lisa murdered Dr Tanizaki, revealed herself to the team, and tried to rebuild her cyber army from within the Hub. Finally there was poor sweet Annie, the Cyberman’s final victim; Ianto's hands would never come clean from her blood. For as long as he lived, he would always regret that he wasn't stronger, that he wasn’t man enough to resist the overwhelming power of the implant._

_"You hid yourself from us." Jack's voice was angry and accusing, shaking with barely contained violence and lacking any of the occasional warmth Ianto used to hear from him._

_Gwen was looking at him like he was something on the bottom of her shoe. "You called Jack the monster but the only monster I saw was you." Her utter contempt for him washed over the Welshman in waves._

_"We should have killed you when we had the chance!” Owen's voice was dripping with acid and spite. “You're so weak and pathetic no one would have missed you." Ianto could see his fingers twitching, as though they pulling an imaginary trigger._

_Tosh looked at him with such utter disappointment and pity in her eyes that Ianto physically cringed. "Why couldn't you have been stronger?" she asked. “Why couldn’t you have been more of a man?”_

_"You killed me, Ianto; if you had been stronger I wouldn't have died such a horrible death.” Annie's next words cut the deepest, slicing straight through the young Welshman’s heart and bringing tears to his eyes. “I had my whole life ahead of me."_

_"You have served us well. You will be the first to be upgraded in our new age." There was a gleam of approval in Lisa’s cold eyes as her gleaming silver hand closed around his arm in an iron grip._

_Guttural screams ripped from Ianto’s throat as he found himself strapped down and trapped in familiar metal bonds. As he struggled to free himself he watched in horror as Cyber-Lisa morphed into his father, and then the metallic body multiplied into SHIELD agents Clint, Natasha and Fury. Ianto’s heart seized in his chest as he saw that they had all been converted into the next wave of Cybermen._

Ianto woke with a scream and found himself tangled in the sheet with tears falling down his eyes. Strong arms wrapped around him, comforting him and helping to fight off the chill. Soft words pushed back the memories and forced the nightmares down to the depths.

"Shh, you're safe, Ianto. I'm here and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you again," Clint whispered as he felt Ianto shivering against him. It broke his heart and stirred his anger that ever since he’d been freed from the cyber control implant Ianto had been plagued by horrible nightmares.

"It feels so real” Ianto whispered hoarsely, “and I wake up and just for a moment I think it’s all over but then I realise that it _was_ real. I'm responsible, Clint, I kil...” his voice broke. “…killed two people! Their deaths are on my hands and I nearly let a new wave of Cybermen loose on Earth." His words were hoarse and his breathing ragged from all the screaming he had just done.

"Hey," Ianto found his chin being cupped and his head lifted so that his troubled blue eyes met Clint's compassionate blue eyes, "None of what happened was your fault, okay? You had no control over your actions. I know you, Ianto Jones; I probably know you better than anyone else and I know that you fought with every ounce of your being. I can still see the scars on your back from where that monster burned and tortured you for daring to resist her influence!" Clint refused to let Ianto blame himself for actions he had no control over.

Ianto wanted to believe what Clint was saying, he really did, but he had seen the looks of pure condemnation in Jack and the other's eyes once they’d learned he worked at Torchwood One. Those looks had returned and increased tenfold when they’d learned about Lisa; they had all been ready to Retcon him or worse. If they saw he was him as guilty why shouldn't Clint? After all, he was guilty, wasn’t he?

Hey “Come on now, I know what you’re thinking,” Clint leaned forward and kissed Ianto. “Don't you _dare_ let those Torchwood bastards get to you! You worked with them for an entire year and not one of them ever noticed that something was terribly wrong with you! As far as I’m concerned you don't owe those selfish bastards a thing." Clint was adamantly opposed to the idea of Ianto taking anything anyone from Torchwood Three had said to him to heart.

"How could they have not seen?” Ianto put into words the question that had been rolling around in his head for what felt like forever. “Was I really that horrible a person to be around that not one of them could take the time to say ‘how are you?’ or offer me a simple hi or thank you?" he asked, cursing himself as he felt hot tears fill his eyes. He just could not understand how the team could have been so cold, so cruel to him but yet so warm, so welcoming to Gwen.

"It's because they’re blind fools who couldn't see what a wonderful treasure was right in front of them. Now come on, don't give them another thought; I promise you won't ever have to see them again," Clint vowed as he tugged Ianto back down into their bed, then snuggled in close and tucked his lover's head under his chin. His eyes caught Natasha's; she was hidden in the shadow of the barely open bedroom door. No doubt she’d had JARVIS alert her to any nightmares Ianto might have been having. As the door silently closed, Clint knew that just like him Natasha would gut anyone from Torchwood before ever allowing them to get near Ianto again.

******

"You know I'm tempted to just let Natasha loose on them. I'm pretty sure that Director Fury would help me hide their bodies." Phil Coulson’s tone was remarkably casual as he watched his son fall apart in Clint's arms. He felt a little pervy watching Ianto on JARVIS’ cameras, especially in the privacy of the couple’s bedroom, but at the moment he was far more concerned with his boy’s well-being than with propriety. Despite Ianto's stoic demeanour when in front of everyone else, Phil knew full well that when he was in private, it would be an entirely different story.

Now, seeing the young man’s heart-wrenching breakdown Phil felt all of his protective instincts stirring and it was taking all of his willpower, and the fact that he had Tony Stark draped all over him like an octopus, from hunting down everyone who had hurt his son and making them pay and pay and pay...

"Oh I find this side of you very hot.” Squirming around so that he could properly straddle his lover, Tony tickled Phil’s ribs. “You wouldn't need Fury’s help; just give me the word and I'll make it seem like none of them ever existed," the naked Iron Man promised.

“It’s a nice offer, but…” Phil wouldn't lie and say that he wasn't tempted. "Not just yet. I don't want Ianto asking any questions if for some insane reason he wants to see them. Truth be told, I want to wait and see if any of them is strong enough not only to admit that they were wrong but to apologise for how they treated Ianto."

"That might be a long wait," Tony commented dryly. While he hadn't met the team – yet – it wasn't hard to figure out that they were rather stubborn, if hearing Natasha ranting non-stop about them in Russia was any indication. 

"I will say that Toshiko Sato is different; she was the only one who was concerned about Ianto. I think if any one of them is willing to reach out and make the first step in mending fences it will be her," Phil predicted.

Tony glanced down at his lover, "And would you be okay with that?” He stroked the man’s face tenderly. “Phil, I know you work hard to maintain that that super cool agent mask you wear, but I see the man underneath. I always have, even before we started this…” he leaned down and gently kissed Phil’s lips, “…and I know how worried you are about Ianto and the damage that’s been done to him. Torchwood probably doesn’t know the extent of what their indifference put your son through, but whether they realise it or not, I don’t think they actually wanted to see him hurt." Tony caressed Phil’s face lovingly. “I don’t want to see you get hurt either.”

Phil pulled his partner down, rolled so they were side by side and then he grinned mischievously. “It’s just comforting to know that if I ever need to, I can sic Natasha and Pepper on them. Think of it as a form of stress relief, okay?" Tony smiled back knowing that the thought of Torchwood paying their dues at the hands of two of the fiercest women on the planet shouldn't cheer him up as much as it did, but it did.

"Actually, that’s something I’d pay to see happen," Tony admitted. "And don't forget to include Maria, I think her suggestions of what to do to them were giving Pepper and Natasha ideas, I believe I even saw Pepper taking notes." Tony shuddered as he imagined what damage those three women could do together.

"Well, if they’re smart we won't be seeing anyone from Torchwood for a long time." Personally, Phil Coulson would be happy if he never had to see Torchwood again.


	3. Chapter 3

_One week later_

True to her word, Tosh had been working herself to the bone, spending hours of overtime every night hunched over her keyboard, searching countless databases and computer archives trying to find every piece of information she could get her hands on about the deaths of the Torchwood One survivors. She was also doing her best to track down the few who were still living but it wasn't easy; when they realised that no help was coming from UNIT or Torchwood they closed ranks and went complete off the grid.

Tosh felt sick at heart when she realised that no one had offered any kind of help to them; all the reports that she could find confirmed that they had lived through hell that day at Canary Wharf and but had been given absolutely nothing for their physical and mental suffering. Not once person had been offered medical treatment, psychological counselling, monetary assistance, not even Retcon to help them deal with the memories of what they had experienced.

It was a proven fact that everyone in a position of authority had just washed their hands of them.

Looking from one survivor’s picture to another, Tosh felt tears of guilt and compassion spring to her eyes. "Things will be different, I promise you,” she vowed. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Owen and Gwen had noticed that Tosh had been even more glued to her computer than normal but after hearing them badgering her about being a kiss-ass and making them look bad, Jack had warned them to back off leave her alone. When Gwen persisted in her verbal abuse of her co-worker, Jack threatened her with unpaid suspension, growling at the unapologetic Welshwoman that Tosh was working on something for him and “…that she is not to be disturbed by any of your petty bullshit.”

A week after she’d begun her exhaustive search, Tosh had done absolutely everything she could and what she‘d found was quite disturbing. "Jack!" she shouted as she finished transferring her data to her laptop and gathering her printouts.

Jack was out of his office and down the stairs in a shot, arriving at Tosh’s desk just as she shoved her chair back; he was taken aback by the fact that Tosh looked like a walking ghost. "What is it, Tosh, what have you found out?" he asked as he studied her ashen skin and the dark circles under her eyes with a worried look.

Despite her earlier intentions of presenting a logical case, Tosh found herself blurting out, "Those twenty survivors didn't kill themselves, Jack; they were murdered!”

The other members of Torchwood Three froze in the middle of whatever they were doing; there was no way Tosh could possibly be telling the truth but one look in her eyes and they knew that she was.

"Boardroom, now!" Jack growled out and in that tone of voice no one dared to argue with them; both Owen and Gwen made their way to the boardroom as fast as they could, arriving just as Tosh transferred all her data to the over-sized view screen.

Jack was pacing the room like a caged tiger while Tosh handed out copies of her findings. "I’ll warn you right now, this isn't pretty." Tosh she pulled up the photo files on the screen.

Body after body after body appeared on the screen, all of them tortured in horrible ways, their bodies mutilated almost to the point that they didn't even look human; the remains of many of the bodies had even been burned.

"Tell us everything," Jack instructed Tosh in a soft voice; he could see by the minute tremor in her hands that this case had really gotten to her.

Swallowing hard Tosh pulled up additional information and attached it to each photo. "Each one of them has been tortured, their bodies show extensive damage; they were burned alive, Jack…” Gwen’s audible gasp interrupted Tosh for a moment, “…they survived the torture only for their hearts to give out as whoever did this burned them.”

“Bloody bastards!” Owen hissed angrily.

“Why would anyone due that?” Gwen turned to Jack with tears in her eyes. “I can’t imagine the extreme terror they must have been feeling as they were subjected to the same fate as their colleagues at the fall of Torchwood One." Gwen couldn't understand how anyone could have been so heartless.

"I don't know, Gwen, but we’re going to protect those who are left and find the son of a bitch responsible for this," Jack promised. He turned to Tosh, “We already know where Ianto is, so any ideas of where we start looking for the remaining six survivors?”

"I hate to point this out but doesn't this mean that we have to tell SHIELD that we completely screwed up and that some _thing_ or some _one_ is out there hunting down the survivors of Torchwood One and that they've managed to kill twenty of them right under our noses and we have no clue who they are, so they’d better keep a real close eye on Ianto," Owen snarled out. Momentarily letting his anger and frustration get the better of him, he kicked a spare chair so hard it crashed into the far wall, marring the wooden panelling.

It was a sure sign of Jack’s acceptance and acknowledgement of their guilt that he remained silent and merely returned the chair to its proper position at the table as they were once again reminded of the fact that they had failed Ianto and the other survivors.

Knowing that Owen was right, Jack mentally cringed. That was a phone call he was not looking forward to making but he also knew that SHIELD needed to be advised that Ianto might be in trouble. "We don't have much of a choice, they need to know. We can’t ignore the fact that Ianto is in real danger."

"Jack, maybe we should let just SHIELD take this over? They have more resources on hand and more personnel and let’s face facts; we really do have better things to do with our time. I'm sorry that so many Torchwood agents were killed but you and Owen have both said it yourself: they brought their fate on themselves." Try as she might – which wasn’t very much – Gwen still couldn't understand why Jack and Tosh, or even Owen for that matter, were so concerned about a few idiots they’d never cared about before. _‘It’s all that stupid tea-boy’s fault! Damn Ianto Jones to hell!’_

Jack felt a severe headache forming; this was the same narrow-minded, one-sided discussion that he’d had with her for the last week. Repeating himself yet again, Jack sighed wearily and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to relieve some of the tension. "Gwen, it’s very simple: we failed them and we need to make it right. And no, I don’t think we need to contact SHIELD, not right away.”

It still irked him that they had known nothing about Ianto, that _he_ knew nothing about Ianto; day in and day out Jack had not only thrown that fact in Ianto's face but he’d openly gloated about the Canary Wharf victims getting exactly what they deserved. Jack had heartlessly washed his hands of everything related to Torchwood One and now that was coming back to haunt him in the worst way possible. He had effectively thrown those twenty-seven survivors to the wolves and now he needed to make this right to sooth his own soul. There was no way he could carry such a soul-crushing burden around for the rest of his interminably long life; it would eventually destroy him. Plus he owed it to not only Ianto, but to Rose as well; she’d given him a second chance, a favour he hadn’t bothered to extend to the survivors.

It was time he became the man both Rose and the Doctor saw him as.

“Jack, Gwen might be right,” Tosh voiced her opinions in a soft voice. “Maybe we should contact SHIELD…” she saw Jack’s eyebrows go up in surprise and hastened to add, “…not her dump the case on them part, but so the people caring for Ianto will know what to expect. They should be warned to make sure that whoever is behind this attack don’t get to Ianto. I don’t want Ianto to suffer any more than he already has.”

Jack found himself relaxing as he listened to her quiet tone and he had to admit that Tosh had a point; they didn’t need SHIELD coming after them if something did happen to Ianto and they hadn’t warn them. However, he really didn’t want to deal with Fury or anyone else at SHIELD at this point. Something of his inner turmoil must have shown on his face because a gruff laugh unexpectedly interrupted Jack’s thoughts.

“Are you actually afraid to call Nick Fury?” Owen simply could not contain his laughter and his voice shook with merriment. Oh he could understand Jack’s fear; the notoriously volatile director of SHIELD was not a man you wanted on your bad side. “I’m just glad that it’s not me who has to tell Fury that his godson has a target painted on his back. I bet he’ll be really happy to hear from us.”

“I don’t suppose anyone would like to volunteer to call Fury and inform him of the situation?” Jack asked hopefully, staring at each member of his team with pleading eyes.

As the legs of his chair crashed to the floor, Owen looked like he swallowed a lemon. “I would rather do a year’s worth of paperwork before I’d even think about picking up a phone and calling him. Hell, I’d rather feed Myfanwy by hand and she’s been in a bloody foul mood ever since Ianto left us. Why that stupid bird liked him so much is beyond me.”

That part was most definitely true; if anyone missed Ianto more than Jack and Tosh it was Myfanwy. The dinosaur had made her displeasure of being fed and cared for by anyone but Ianto very well known as she dive-bombed Owen and Gwen whenever they weren’t looking. The last time she’d swooped low enough over the autopsy bay to ruffle Owen’s hair and send him diving under his desk, he’d thrown the bloody kloplic sac of the Nusleen warrior he was cutting up at her.

In response, the pteranodon had retreated to her aerie, spending over an hour shrieking her displeasure at the top of her lungs. The following morning she’d dropped a rotting animal carcass in the middle of the Hub and since then she’d attacked anyone who was brave enough – or dumb enough – to come near her. Jack was extremely thankful that he had fast healing capabilities, considering the fact that Myfanwy had nearly ripped off his arm when he’d ventured up to her nest to try and convince her to come out of hiding; she hadn’t reacted too well to that invasion.

Ignoring Owen’s sarcastic tone, Tosh looked at Jack with true concern in her eyes. “I’m really worried about her; I don’t know when she last ate and she no longer leaves the Hub at night. We might have to discuss sending her to live with Ianto. I think it would be good for the two of them,” she admitted softly. Like Ianto she was very fond of the poor out-of-time creature and she was afraid that Myfanwy might waste away from loneliness as she mourned the loss of Ianto.

It was no secret that even though Jack had helped rescue the prehistoric bird, Myfanwy was Ianto’s pet and no one else’s; if she kept on the way she was going she would waste away to nothing and despite her ill temper of late, that was not a fate that anyone wanted for her.

In his heart, Jack knew that Tosh was right, Myfanwy was a stubborn old girl and the truth was that none of them had taken the time to get to know her. From the moment Ianto had started working at Torchwood Three he had taken full responsibility for her care, feeding and training. The others had been grateful for his initiative as they already had their hands full and didn't have time – or in Gwen and Owen’s case, the interest – to teach her. Now they were faced with an angry, heart-broken pteranodon who wanted nothing to do with them.

Despite his cynicism even Owen couldn't hide his concern for the overgrown rat with wings as he liked to refer to Myfanwy. "It might be for the best, Jack, and I’m not just saying that because she threw up on my desk last week. Given the close, almost maternal bond she formed with the tea-boy, she's not going to trust any of us to care for her. As a doctor I don't like feeling helpless and watching her starved herself until she wastes away to nothing, not when we know who can help." Owen shrugged, “and I hate to admit it but it might actually help Ianto to heal having her around; after all I think we can all agree that giant bird was the only one around here who truly cared about him."

Not one of them could deny that Owen a strong and very valid point. Sighing with exhaustion and rubbing his hand over his face as his headache up-graded itself to a migraine, Jack knew that he was going to have to face Nick Fury. "I'll bring the subject of Myfanwy up first, see if Ianto's up to seeing her and then when he’s having warm fuzzy feelings about how thoughtful I am, I’ll warn him about the threat. I hope that it will be enough so that SHIELD can keep Ianto safe.” Jack knew that Owen and Tosh were right, and he hoped that it would be enough to show Fury and the others that they were serious about making things right with Ianto.

Gwen was actually happy with the plan for sending Myfanwy to be with Ianto; she didn't understand why she was the target of Myfanwy's mess more often than not. Of course Owen's desk had been covered with vomit more than once but she seemed to favour taking a huge steaming dump, the smellier the mess the better, on Gwen's desk. The former PC perked up noticeably knowing that soon she wouldn't be forced to clean up dinosaur shit ever again.

The rest of the meeting went too fast for Jack's taste and soon he found himself alone in his office faced with making that dreaded phone call to SHIELD. It made him just a little panicky because let’s face it, only a fool wouldn't be nervous when giving Nick Fury less-than-happy news. After visiting the bathroom, getting a bottle of water, wandering around his office several times, Jack couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer. Seated behind his desk, twisted the kinks out of his neck, picked up the receiver and dialed the SHIELD switchboard.

"Harkness, I didn't think that I would be hearing from your sorry ass anytime soon; you must have a death wish to be contacting me after what you did to my godson!" Nick Fury barked down the line. He had considered telling the man to fuck off and then hanging up the phone when he’d heard Harkness was calling for him. Fortunately, a cooler head had prevailed when Maria had said that given the animosity between them, there had to be a good reason for Jack to get in touch.

Even though he was safely ensconced in his office in Cardiff Jack winced at the sound of the other man’s voice and he was immensely glad that he wasn't standing face-to-face with Nick. "Trust me, Fury, if I didn't have something important to discuss with you I would leave Ianto alone to heal in peace, but this is about Myfanwy. Ianto loves that dinosaur and he would be devastated if anything happened to her." Jack figured it was smart to start off with something benign, something that wouldn't have Fury calling him all kinds of names and slamming the phone on him and refusing to take all future calls.

"Right, Myfanwy, the only one over there that actually cared about Ianto and not how his ass looked in trousers or that he kept you supplied with his coffee. What's wrong with her?" Fury knew that if something happened to Ianto's pet it would set his recovery back big time. “What have you and your team of thoughtless buffoons done to her?”

Once again Jack found himself wincing; as expected, Fury wasn't holding back. Ignoring the man’s dig at his team, Jack kept his voice low and even as he explained, "You’re right, Myfanwy _was_ the only one who cared about Ianto before and now she's in mourning for him. She's deeply depressed, she’s refusing to eat and we fear if something doesn't change soon she won't last much longer."

Fury made his decision in the space of single heartbeat. "I'll have a jet prepped and ready for transport within the hour; Agent Romanoff will be flying it," he declared in a no-nonsense tone.

_'I’d better make sure that Gwen is nowhere around here when Romanoff arrives; I don't have time to train a new agent.'_ It hadn't escaped Jack or anyone else’s attention that Natasha couldn’t stand Gwen Cooper right from the moment they met. Jack knew that Gwen thought of herself as his second-in-command, something which wasn’t true and that Jack had to address and soon. The Black Widow was a top field agent and Gwen Cooper was obviously no match for someone like that.

"Thank you, I'll have Owen sedate her for the flight and he’ll provide all the care instructions for her that Ianto left, just to make like a little easier for him. I know that she's going to be overjoyed to see Ianto again." He quite wisely didn’t add, _'She's not the only one who wants to see Ianto again, only thing is she’s the only one Ianto is gonna happy to see.'_

Lounging back in his chair SHEILD’s director rolled his eyes at the almost subservient tone of Jack’s voice. "Harkness, I know damn well that you didn't call me just about the dinosaur, there’s something else going on and the longer you keep me in the dark the more pissed I'm going to become and you don't want me angry," Fury warned quietly.

Knowing it was now or never, Jack took a deep breath and admitted, "Something or someone is killing the survivors of the Battle of Canary Wharf. Out of the twenty-seven survivors of Torchwood One only seven, including Ianto, are still alive. My team is looking into this but I thought you should know in order to better protect Ianto, something…” Jack swallowed hard as he admitted, “my team and I failed to do."

"I knew that you had turned your back on Torchwood One but I never thought that you would be cold enough not to care about the traumatized survivors who watched their world burn.” The tone of pure contempt was clear in Fury’s voice. “I’d say it's long past time that you started taking responsibility for those who had been left in your care through no fault of their own.”

Jack’s shackles rose immediately at the clear condemnation in Nick Fury’s words. “I wouldn’t say no fault…”

Nick continued as though Jack hadn’t interrupted. “Ianto has told us all about the fall of Torchwood Tower and what brought that about. He also told us that all but two of the survivors had absolutely nothing to do with Yvonne Hartman’s blind ambitions and the stupidity that ensued. I don’t know if I’d be able to overlook the welfare of those directly responsible for the battle, but I know that my agents and I would never, _never_ allow the innocent to suffer.”

There was nothing Jack could say to defend his actions or deflect the intense guilt Fury’s words.

“Don't you worry, Harkness, _we'll_ keep Ianto safe, why don’t you just focus on helping the other survivors and catching this son of a bitch." Fury ended the phone call with a definitive click.

Jack just stared at the phone for a moment or two as the line continued to buzz.

"I take it that Fury wasn't too pleased to hear from us?" Owen asked as he stepped out of the hallway’s shadow and into Jack's office. “Nice and polite as usual, was he? Helpful?”

Jack's shoulders slumped and he suddenly looked very old and very tired making Owen wish that he could step back out of the office and send Tosh in instead; she was much better at this comforting shit than he was. He was complete rubbish at emotions and comfort, so awkwardly he found himself sitting down in front of Jack’s desk and asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

A long, slightly shaky breath escaped Jack's lips as he stared off into space. "Fury rimmed me out royally for turning my back on the survivors, people who’d lost everything and I didn't lift a finger to help them, believing that hiring Ianto was enough…” He chuckled but there was no humour to the sound, “…and look how that turned out."

"It wasn't just you, Jack. I may be a crummy human being,” Owen unwillingly admitted, “but I am a damn good doctor and yet I turned my back on those who were suffering. I washed my hands of them because I let my hatred of everything Yvonne Hartman and One stood for blind me as well. Hell, at least you tried! I remember when Ianto first arrived you tried to include the Tea-Boy in stuff but I never uttered one nice word to the kid. Well, maybe once about his coffee but I never actually thanked him for that."

Jack could see the defeated slump to Owen's shoulders, the pain in his eyes; his proud medic was truly feeling the burden of his failure with Ianto and the other Torchwood One survivors. Jack realised at that moment that Owen was sharing the same intense guilt he was feeling. "We all made mistakes when it came to Ianto and our treatment of him and the other survivors, that's why we owe it to the people we failed to help those who remain. We will find a way to stop whoever it is that’s hunting them down.”

Owen, who’d been intently studying his shoes as though afraid to meet Jack’s eyes, raised his head from his chest and looked at his leader hopefully, although he didn’t speak.

Jack met Owen’s gaze; “we have to accept that it might be too late where Ianto’s concerned and, given how protective SHIELD is over him, we might never get a chance to properly apologise to Ianto…” a look of true sorrow passed over Jack’s face, “…but at least we can make things right with the remaining survivors."

Owen knew that Jack was right and he made a personal resolution to do everything he possibly could to make their lives better. "How do you suggest we go about helping the other? I sincerely doubt we’re gonna be their favourite people to see,” he pointed out dryly.

Jack groaned and rubbed his temples; he’d really thought that his headache would ease once he’d talked to Fury. He desperately wished that he had some of Ianto's wonderful industrial-strength coffee in front of him but no such luck. "That's not our only problem at the moment."

Cocking his head to the side, Owen couldn't help but wonder what other problem they had that was more important than Ianto but he didn't have long to wait for an answer.

"Fury is sending Agent Romanoff to collect Myfanwy," Jack explained, although there was quite the roguish twinkle in his eye.

Fighting the urge to grin at the prospect of seeing Gwen get her comeuppance, Owen realised that there was a downside to the situation. "We’re going to have to keep Cooper far away from her; Gwen's feisty but she’s no match for the Black Widow and we’re are already one member short as it is. I don't think we could handle being just three." Owen fought the urge to groan as a f sudden suspicion that Fury was sending the Black Widow to Cardiff just to punish them. "Don’t suppose we can fake an emergency to send Gwen somewhere far away from the Hub?” Owen suggested.

Jack had to admit that was a pretty good idea, one he’d already thought of. "Problem is one of us has to go with Gwen, but you need to be here to make sure that Myfanwy is properly sedated and as Torchwood’s leader I should be here to greet Romanoff and sending Tosh with Gwen..." Jack trailed off.

“That’s like mixing oil and water!” Owen gave a sharp snort of laughter. “Tosh just might hold Gwen down for Agent Romanoff!” It was no secret that Tosh had been clashing with Gwen for a while and there was no secret as to why; Tosh had grown very protective of Ianto even if he was no longer with Torchwood. The two men shared a look that clearly said it weighed heavily on her soul for not recognising the man’s value and not being able to apologise to Ianto face-to-face for her thoughtlessness. Truth be told, Tosh wasn’t the only person on whom Gwen's attitude towards Ianto and the other survivors of Torchwood One was beginning to grate.

"You know, sending those two together might not be such a great idea after all,” Owen conceded. “Only one of them is probably coming back and my money’s on Tosh; she's a fire-breathing dragon under that shy shell!”

Jack fought back a delighted laugh; it was nice that Owen was finally seeing Tosh for who she really was, but as with most things, it was a little too late. Jack knew for a fact, having seen her out on several occasions with a nice young man from the local rugby team, that Tosh was finally moving on from her feelings for Owen. "Sad to say we’re just going to have to do our best to keep Gwen away from Agent Romanoff during the short time she’ll be here if we want to avoid the bloodshed."

"Yeah, good luck with that, mate." Owen had very little doubt that anyone would be walking out of this meeting with SHIELD agents without a little bloodshed.


	4. Chapter 4

"You do know you can't kill any of them, right?” Feeling odd for being the voice of reason where Ianto and Torchwood were concerned, Clint mentally shook his head. “I don’t know why but he still cares about them."

Natasha rolled her eyes as she came face-to-face with Clint's pout. "Ianto's a good soul and of course he still cares about them. Besides if I did kill them who would tell Ianto?" Natasha pointed out the obvious.

Clint had to agree that his friend had a point; everyone who knew Ianto loved him dearly and they would probably help Natasha hide the bodies.

"How’s he doing?" Natasha asked.

Clint looked away as he clenched his fists in frustration. "He's still having nightmares, almost every night. I feel so helpless, Nat; there’s nothing I can do to protect him from this."

Worry crept into Natasha's heart as she took a closer look at Clint; everyone could see the strain these nightmares were having on Ianto but it was harder to see how much it was hurting Clint simply because he was so much better at hiding his turmoil. The truth was it caused him never-ending pain being unable to help his lover. Natasha smiled comfortingly. "Just offer him your love and support, that’s what Ianto needs right now and maybe having Myfanwy around will help."

Clint could only hope that Natasha was right, Ianto was just a shell of himself and Clint honestly hated Torchwood for hurting the man he loved.

******

Tension was running high within the Hub as the members of Torchwood awaited the arrival of Natasha Romanoff, and as far as Tosh was concerned even a bit of excitement. She was hoping that she’d have the chance to get Natasha alone for a moment so she could ask how Ianto was doing. The only alternative was that Natasha would tell them voluntarily, even if it was just to point out how well SHIELD was taking care of Ianto. She realised that she didn’t care if the Black Widow pointed out how badly they had failed their former tea-boy if only she’d reveal the progress of Ianto’s healing.

Lost in her thoughts of Ianto, Tosh was just a wee bit startled when the Tourist Office door opened causing the bell above it to tinkle merrily. She straightened up immediately as in walked the imposing figure of Natasha Romanoff flanked on either side by five other SHIELD agents.

While Natasha had no love for anyone associated with Torchwood Three, she did have a slight – very slight, mind you – soft spot for Toshiko Sato. Ianto had told them all about each team member and Tosh was the only person he’d spoken of with affection. One look at the petite Japanese woman and as they gazes met Natasha could clearly see the remorse in Tosh’s eyes coupled with the burning need to know how Ianto was. Toshiko Sato was the picture of a person honestly racked with guilt and wishing to make amends. “Before you ask, Agent Sato, and I’m only saying this because I truly believe that you regret your actions towards Ianto, so I will tell you this much, Ianto is doing as well as can be expected for a person who has endured a year of mind control. We are all doing everything we can to help him but for now he still has a long road ahead of him before he is healed properly.”

Fighting back a sudden rush of tears, Tosh swallowed hard and then managed to smile gratefully. “Thank you so much for being honest with me and I hope that Myfanwy will be of some help to Ianto.” Tosh knew that Ianto used to sit up in the dinosaur’s aerie and talk to her, and she was sure that have a ‘friend’ like Myfanwy to talk to it would make things a little easier for him.

“As do I,” Natasha favoured Tosh with a soft smile. “Ianto has spoken of her many times and I can see how much he loves her. From what Fury has told me she’s missing Ianto just as much.” Aware that she’d just let her gentler side show, Romanoff stiffened as she glanced at her watch, then in an imperious tone she announced, “We’re wasting time; let’s get this show on the road and get them reunited.”

******

To say Jack was nervous was an understatement and Jack simply did not do nervous but then again, Natasha was a dangerous woman. He’d heard rumours about the things the Black Widow had done and how protective she was over those select few whom she considered family and there was no doubt that Ianto Jones was most definitely on that list.

“Well, Myfanwy is all set; I’ve put her into a mildly relaxed state, ready for transport to the airbase and then once she’s onboard the plane I’ll give her the rest of her sedative. She’ll sleep peacefully throughout the flight and when she wakes up she’ll be reunited with her beloved Ianto,” Owen announced proudly as he came up from the garage. If the fairly steady stream of coos, chortles and whispery squawks was any indication, Myfanwy was currently enjoying a _very_ chipper mood as she awaited her unexpected trip although the dinosaur-sized pharmaceuticals aside, the doctor was convinced that she knew what was happening and where she was going.

“That’s good and Gwen?” Jack asked.

Owen smirked. “Complaining up a storm as to why she has to be the one going on a lunch run,” Owen had heard it all as he escorted Gwen out via the invisible list. “Apparently it’s beneath her, or so I was told… and told… and…”

“I get your point, Owen.” Slowly Jack shook his head. He didn’t care that he was going to be getting an earful from Gwen later; he just didn’t want her to end up saying the wrong thing and pissing off Natasha.  “But it doesn’t matter as long as she’s out of the way while SHIELD is here.” Jack touched his comm unit and nodded. “Okay, that was Tosh and she’s on her way down with Agent Romanoff and the other SHIELD agents. Please, Owen, best behaviour; the last thing we need is SHIELD even angrier at us.”

“Well, Captain Harkness, I’m not sure that’s possible but I’m sure if anyone could do it, you or and your agents could find a way,” Natasha remarked as she followed Tosh into the Hub. Without trying to appear obvious, she studied her surroundings; Ianto had told her all about it but still, she was vaguely impressed. It had nothing on the Helicarrier but still it wasn’t all that bad.

“Agent Romanoff, how nice to see you again.” Jack held out his hand in greeting even as he managed to put a fake smile on his face.

Natasha wasn’t a fool; she could tell that Jack wanted her there as much as she wanted to be there. “I have no doubt you’re as happy to see me as I am to see you again, so let’s skip the pleasantries and get right down to business. Our lorry is sitting outside your garage so if you’ll grant us entrance we’ll load Myfanwy and be on our way.” 

Jack gave a short nod; he knew that any questions about Ianto would go answered so the sooner he got them out of his Hub the better it would be for everyone. Jack refused to recognise the feeling that in giving Myfanwy away he was giving away his last link to Ianto. “Good, Myfanwy is ready,” Jack announced gruffly before turning on his heel and walking away.

As they watched Jack climb the stairs to his office and close the door behind him Owen and Tosh exchanged knowing looks; this was going to be tougher on Jack than they thought.

******

_Unknown location_

Every inch of Christian Jones’ body hurt and she wanted to cry or scream but she couldn’t shed a tear; the last ones had dried up so long ago. Her voice was gone from the screams she had given in the past and now she just wanted the darkness to claim her. She longed for death, for it seemed to be the only way to be free from torture. She tried not to move as she heard the footsteps of her captor getting closer and closer until finally she could feel its hot breath on her skin.

“Aww, you’re no fun anymore. You won’t scream, you just want death like they all do. I should grant your wish, but then that would be too kind. No, you and all others like you must suffer and pay. My mate begged for mercy and I swear that before this is over, so will you.”

Christian whimpered in fear; she knew the pain was going to start again.


	5. Chapter 5

Clint knew that they had made the right choice in bringing Ianto to meet the Helicarrier as he watched his lover’s face lit up with a smile that he hadn’t seen in ages the moment he saw his beloved pteranodon.

“Myfanwy! What are you doing here, girl?” Ianto asked as he cooed happily over his pet and then stood still as Myfanwy gently preened him with her beak.

“Now that’s a sight we haven’t seen in a long time, Ianto’s smiling!” Phil commented as he joined Clint and Natasha.

“Who knew that Torchwood could do something right for once?” Natasha muttered under her breath, they knew that Myfanwy wouldn’t be a quick fix for Ianto and that the nightmares would still be there but Myfanwy’s calming presence would help.

*****

The Hub was quiet, too quiet for Jack’s taste; he missed Myfanwy’s presence almost as much as he missed Ianto. _‘I have been such a fool! How different would things be today if any of us had just taken the time to get to know Ianto? Would he still be here and would we have finally moved beyond flirting and into something more meaningful? I guess I’ll never know,’_ Jack thought sadly.

“It’s not the same without Myfanwy or Ianto?” Tosh commented lightly.

It had been three long, lonely days since SHIELD had taken Myfanwy from them; twice Jack had found himself preparing her meals and once, in the middle of the first night, he’d actually climbed all the way up to her aerie before he’d remembered that she was gone. A quick note from Fury stating that Myfanwy had been reunited with Ianto and seemed to be settling in fine was his only consolation. Jack had been shocked by the fact that in an uncharacteristic display of kindness, Fury had included a photo of Ianto and Myfanwy sitting together in her new aerie.

When Jack had finally shared the picture with Tosh the next day she’d commented that Ianto’s smile was truly beautiful. Tears had sprung to his eyes and Jack had been forced to turn away and rush back up to his office, unable to control his emotions; he couldn’t recall ever seeing Ianto smile with such pure joy while he’d been with them. It broke the immortal’s heart that he would never see Ianto smile like that because of anything _he’d_ done for the young Welshman.

Having caught a brief glance of the photo, and seeing its effect on Jack, Gwen stiffened with annoyance. She was beyond glad that Myfanwy was gone; she didn’t think her desk could survive another one of the pteranodon’s ‘gifts’. An hour later, when Jack had rejoined his team, although in a visibly subdued mood, she’d announced, “Well I still think it was for the best that we sent Myfanwy to be with Ianto; let’s face it, none of us had the time to look after her.”

What went unsaid was Gwen’s internal monologue; _‘She was just another reminder of bloody Ianto Jones and it’s time we,_ _and by that I mean you and me, Jack, move on. Ianto is gone and good riddance as far as I’m concerned; he’s not coming back no matter how much some poor deluded souls long for him to return.’_ She glared at Toshiko’s back. _‘The sooner we replace the tea-boy the better,’_ although for a moment she wished longingly for a cup of Ianto’s mystically good coffee.

“Jack! We got a major problem!” A rather flustered Owen Harper announced dramatically as he dashed up the short flight of stairs from his autopsy bay; his face pale and his eyes were slightly wild, and he waved a piece of paper in his hand. “I just got off the phone with a friend of mine from St David’s Hospital; he’s an A&E doctor and he says that a woman was brought in last night, obviously tortured and barely alive. Jack, she’s on the list of survivors from Torchwood One that I gave all hospitals here and in London along with instructions to call us if any of them showed up.”

That startling bit of information caught Jack’s attention and he shot up from his seat on the sofa even as Tosh and Gwen gasped in horror. “Tosh, I want you to start a search running once we have positive Id of who she is; I want to know everything there is to know about her. Gwen, get on the phone to the PC, play nice with Kathy Swanson; something tells me that we’re going to need her help for this one. Owen, you’re with me.” Jack issued his orders with rapid fire speed; all he could do was pray that this woman not only survived but that she had some answers so they could bring whoever was behind this to justice.

******

Christian Jones had no doubt been a beautiful woman before her encounter with her torturer, but looking at her lying in bed, swathed in bandages, with tubes and wires connecting her to a myriad of machines that surrounded her, it was hard to see that beauty beneath the burns, cuts and bruises that covered ninety per cent of her body. Doctor Jared Williams had seen a lot of things during his two decades long career as a doctor but the extent of the injuries this woman had suffered were some of the worst he had ever seen. He knew that if she lived, even after help from the best plastic surgeon available, she would forever bear the scars from her horrendous ordeal.

“Jared!”

Jared sighed as Owen Harper approached him along with a rather handsome man following him. “Owen, thank you for coming so quickly!” Jared smiled lightly at his friend. He didn’t know what Owen did for Torchwood but if whatever happened to this young woman was a result of working for Torchwood then he would rather not know.

Owen realised that Jack was deadly serious about the situation when he didn’t even flirt with Jared or bat an eyelid at the shapely nurse who passed them by. Owen himself didn’t normally go for guys but even he had taken a look or two at Jared when they’d first met and age had only made him even better looking. “Jared, this is my boss, Captain Jack Harkness; Jack, this is a good friend of mine, Doctor Jared Williams. He and I…”

Whatever else Owen was going to say was forgotten as Jack took over the conversation. “Doctor Williams, thank you for your help but this is now a Torchwood investigation and we are taking over, effective immediately. Owen will need to see all your medical files on this patient and I need to speak with her, now!”

Jared had heard the many rumours and speculations about Torchwood and how their leader would walk in to any situation and simply take over without so much as by-your-leave. Well this was one time when Jack wouldn’t be getting his own way. “I’m sorry, Mr. Harkness, but that won’t be happening.”

“Oh really and why not?” Jack raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. “And it’s _Captain_ Harkness.”

“Because whoever is behind this atrocity cut out Miss Jones’ vocal cords.”

******

Tosh felt sick to her stomach as photo after photo of Christian Jones’ injuries was uploaded from Owen’s mobile to her computer and then onto the boardroom’s main viewing screen. Judging from the green tint to Gwen’s skin she was feeling the same way.

Owen, a man who regularly peered into the guts of alien bodies, looked ill at the obscene amount of damage done to the woman. “Whoever did this is one very sick puppy. If Miss Jones survives she’s going to have extensive tissue damage, burns covering fifty percent of her body, multiple scars, reduced use of her arms and legs, and to top things off, her muscles and nerves have been badly damaged. Hell, at this point I am amazed that she’s still alive!”

Owen’s words struck a very unpleasant cord with Jack; in the back of mind memories of his time as the Time Agency’s expert in torture tried to force their way to the forefront. His heart went out to the young woman whom he failed; if only he’d helped the survivors as soon as the battle was over, if only he hadn’t been so stubborn, if only he’d acted sooner, if only… Jack shook himself back into the present. 

Against his will, the immortal found his attention drawn to the odd shape of the scars; the sight caused something vaguely familiar to start tugging at the back of Jack’s mind but the more he thought about it, the farther away it got. _‘It will come to me later; right now I need to focus on helping this poor woman and the other remaining survivors.’_ Plopping himself down in his chair, Jack looked at his team and asked, "Is there anything in the Archives that we can use to help Miss Jones?”

“I’ve already looked through my stuff, but if Tosh’ll give me a hand, I can double-check the computer records, if you think it’ll help,” Owen nodded and then added, “Jack, you do realise that if we _are_ able to help this poor woman we’re going to have to Retcon this whole ordeal from her memories.” After searching through everything in his medical bay Owen hadn’t found much that might help their victim; the problem other than an occasional minor injury among the team his work was mainly focused on the dead and not on the living. “It’s possible that there’s something in the Archives that I don’t know about, but I honestly wouldn’t even know where to start looking.”

“While he was here, Ianto spent most of his time revamping the Archives and their filing system, and he completed roughly eighty-seven per cent before he left,” Tosh spoke up quietly. “He gave me the key to his system, so it should be relatively easy to find anything related to the medical field.”

“I’ll have a look as well,” Jack promised. Truthfully he had no idea that Ianto had made so much progress in the hell-hole that existed in their lower levels, and his respect for the young man jumped several more notches. With only seventeen per cent of the chaos remaining, looking around should be a breeze. After storing artefacts down there for nearly two centuries Jack had a pretty good clue as to what lay in their Archives and he was sure that once he took a good look around, he’d be able to find if there was anything that could help.

With his plans for the afternoon set, Jack’s attention turned to Tosh and Gwen. “Tosh, once you’re done helping Owen, would you please give Gwen a hand? We need to establish a timeline regarding Christian Jones; find out when she was taken and from where, or at least when she was reported missing and by whom.”

Gwen preened and surreptitiously fluffed her boobs; this was her time to shine, to show Jack just how much she cared about the things that he cared about. “I talked to Andy earlier and there was a missing person’s report filed by her partner almost a week ago. According to police records, an Alejandra Felipe Castro-Nueves filed it after Christian didn’t show up for their dinner date. She’s also a survivor of Torchwood One, so I’m going to go and talk to her as soon as we’re done here.” She blinked enticingly at Jack. “Do you want to come along and help me out, Jack?”

Jack had little doubt that Alejandra would be very welcoming to him. “No, take your friend Andy with you; this time around we are working with the coppers, but first give Tosh the information you have so she can start a new search program. Tosh, if you’ll give me a printout of Ianto’s information then Owen, you and I will spend the afternoon looking through the Archives to see if there isn’t anything we can’t find to help this woman. First however, I need to make sure that the other survivors are protected until we catch whoever is behind this.”

******

_Unknown location_

Blinding rage filled their veins and pounded in their temples; all their plotting and planning had been in vain. His hopes of drawing out the one person he needed to destroy had failed. The man was gone and it just wasn’t fair. Of everyone involved, he had to pay the most, it had all been his fault; he was the one who’d drawn his angel, his beloved mate to Torchwood.

There was no doubt about it, Ianto Jones had to suffer and in the worst way possible. It didn’t matter where he hid, he would find the Ianto and make the devil pay.


	6. Chapter 6

“Andy!” Gwen bounced cheerfully into the hospital’s waiting room and her eyes quickly zeroed in on her former partner; her mouth tightened minutely when she saw him sitting close to and smiling at an attractive Hispanic woman. When the woman smiled back and laid her hand on Andy’s arm, anger flashed through the former PC; _‘Who does that cow think she is! She just lost one partner and she’s already on the lookout for a new one? Andy is mine, damn it!’_ The simple facts that Alejandra was a lesbian and that she, herself, was with Rhys Williams totally escaped Gwen.

Andy Davidson looked up from where he was sitting next to Alejandra and smiled at Gwen as she grew closer; next to him he could feel Alejandra tense as though ready to take flight and he laid a comforting hand on her arm. “Gwen can come off a little strong but her heart is in the right place,” Andy smiled encouragingly, hoping he’d reassured her.

Alejandra’s dark eyes narrowed with suspicion. “She is Torchwood; hearts do not belong in Torchwood. That woman may have had a heart once upon a time but the moment she joined that damned organisation it started to die and the longer she stays with Torchwood, the colder she will grow to be. Before she knows it she will be using people for her own personal gains.”

Andy wasn’t at all surprised at the bitterness coming from Alejandra. Many people held a great deal of acrimony and resentment towards Torchwood, including nearly all of his colleagues on the police force; Gwen’s condescending, gloating  attitude when she’d departed their employ had left a bad taste in nearly everyone’s mouth. As for Gwen Cooper, Andy couldn’t deny that Alejandra had a valid point; ever since joining Torchwood Gwen had suddenly gotten too good for the likes of him, once he’d been her partner, her equal, and now he was only good enough to call when she needed something.

Gwen smiled brightly as she reached Andy and the beautiful woman next to him; a part of her was happy that Jack hadn’t tagged along because there was no doubt that with her long shiny dark locks and supermodel good looks that Jack wouldn’t be interested in the woman. “Hello, Miss Felipe Castro-Nueves, I’m Gwen Cooper of Torchwood and I’m so sorry that we have to meet under such horrible circumstances.” In a well-practiced move, Gwen filled her eyes with pity; some of it was actually real as she thought of the broken woman that lay just behind the doors behind them.

Alejandra’s eyes narrowed even more and she pointedly did not take Gwen’s offered hand. “Trust me, Agent Cooper, if this hadn’t happened I would have been well pleased never to lay eyes on anyone from Torchwood ever again. So save your pity for someone who wants it. The only reason I am allowing you anywhere _near_ my partner is because I have no doubt that whatever did this to Christian has something to do with Torchwood. But answer me this, Miss Cooper…” Fire flashed in Alejandra’s eyes. “Where was this concern after Canary Wharf, when we really needed the help? Do your job but I do not want to see you or anyone else associated with Torchwood again. If you need to communicate with me about anything you can do so through PC Davidson.” With that said Alejandra turned on her heel, pushed past Gwen and stalked down the hall and into Christian’s hospital room. Just inside the door she paused and calmed herself, needing the moment to reassure herself that her true love was still breathing.

Gwen could only stare after Alejandra’s retreating form in shocked disbelief. “Well that was rather rude! I’m just trying to help.”

Andy sucked in a deep breath; he had to remind himself who he was talking to. “I don’t know the full story so I can’t judge but put yourself in her shoes, Gwen, and imagine what it would be like if Rhys was lying in there because of something Torchwood might have done. How would you feel if someone offered you pity and platitudes instead of honesty and answers. I’d think about that if I were you,” he suggested before following Alejandra and leaving Gwen to her thoughts.

******

_“You! This is all your fault!”_

_Ianto shook his head as the voices echoed everywhere around him, and he tried backing away from the bodies crawling out of the shadows. “I don’t know what you mean! What’s my fault?” He didn’t know what they were talking about or why they were blaming him. “What is it you think I did?”_

_“You were supposed to save me but you failed and now they’ve all paid the price.”_

_Ianto froze at the unexpected voice; it was the voice that continued to haunt his every nightmare and waking moment._

_Swallowing hard Ianto turned and came face-to-face with Lisa, the Lisa he had only seen in passing, the human version. “No, you used me!” he protested. “What I did I didn’t do of my own freedom, you made me your slave.”_

_Lisa’s grin was cruel and her eyes cold, nothing like the warm smile and laughing eyes he remembered from the Torchwood Tower. “Oh and you were such a good slave, weren’t up? You did everything I commanded but you still couldn’t keep me alive, you couldn’t fix me and now they’re suffering for your failure. Their blood, like that poor Annie’s, is on your hands! Your soul will never be clean, Ianto Jones, you’re drowning in the blood of your failures!”_

_Glancing down at his hands Ianto saw they were indeed covered in blood, deep crimson blood that dripped from his fingertips to pool on the floor, blood that never seemed to stop and a hoarse, desperate scream tore itself from Ianto’s lips as the blood around his feet started to rise._

At the first sound of Ianto’s scream Clint’s eyes shot open and he was by Ianto’s side in an instant, holding his screaming lover close and ignoring the punches and kicks that landed painfully. “Ianto, it’s okay! It was just a dream, you’re safe!” Clint prayed that his words could break through Ianto’s hysteria.

Clint’s reassuring words and calming tone slowly penetrated Ianto’s dream and pulled him back to the real world; opening his eyes, the terrified man shook his head as he clung to his partner. “No it’s not okay! Something’s wrong, Clint! The nightmares are changing, they’re getting stronger as if they’re becoming real and I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen!”

Seeing the sheer desperation in Ianto’s eyes, Clint prayed that he was wrong.

******

“It’s a list.”

Those three words got the other’s attention and they turned their focus to their leader.

“What’s a list?” Gwen asked curiously, hoping that maybe Jack had decided that it was time to replace Ianto. “Who’s on it?”

“Not who,” Jack frowned, “what. The patterns on Christian Jones’ body, I knew I recognized it from somewhere, it’s Galactic Standard. I’m such a fool for not seeing it before. These symbols form a list of the remaining survivors of One and I think I know who’s next.” Jack’s fist clenched with rage; there was no way he was going to let whoever was behind this gets their hands on another innocent victim.

One look at the fire blazing in Jack’s eyes and Tosh had a pretty good idea who he was talking about; ice filled her veins as she softly asked, “It’s Ianto, isn’t it?”

Jack slowly nodded his head. “If whoever this is continues his pattern, then yes, Ianto is next and I am not about to let that happen. Pack your bags, kids; we’re going to New York.” Jack schooled his face so that his team couldn’t see the mix of excitement, worry and dread that he was feeling. _‘I’m not taking any chances with Ianto’s safety. No matter what Fury says about staying away, there’s strength in numbers and we owe it not only to Ianto but to the other victims to stop this monster permanently.’_

“Yeah, cause it’s gonna go over so bloody well when we invade SHIELD’s turf. We’ll be lucky if Nick Fury doesn’t shoot us on sight!” Owen pointed out oh-so-helpfully.

“I don’t care what Fury says, this started out as a Torchwood matter and we’re going to be the ones to finish it! Now I suggest the three of you be ready to go in an hour,” Jack ordered as he turned sharply on his heel and stalked back up to his office.

“Well, he’s back,” Owen commented as he headed back down to the autopsy bay.

Already downloading programs and data to her laptop Tosh glanced up to Jack’s office and smiled warmly. “It’s good to have our Jack back.”

******

"You must be out of your god damn minds if you think I'm letting you anywhere near my agents or my Helicarrier!” Nick Fury spat over the line. “And if you try getting in touch with Ianto you're even crazier than I thought."

Both Jack’s temper and blood pressure were rising to dangerous levels; he didn’t have time for the other man’s posturing but he managed to hold his tongue. "Listen, Fury, I don't like it either but Ianto is in grave danger. And while there’s no denying that your agents are some of the best they’re just not ready to handle the aliens or whatever is behind this. You’ve seen what this creature can do, are you really willing to let Ianto become its next victim?”

Jack’s words struck a chord with Fury; there was no denying it the fact that those people had been brutally tortured before they died and it filled him with fierce rage that his godson was on that bastard’s list. “If… and this is a damn big if, Harkness… _if_ I let you bring your team onboard my Helicarrier you will be assigned Coulson, Romanoff and Maria Hill to work with. You will also stay far away from Ianto and Agent Barton unless you want an ass full of arrows. It will be up to Ianto whether or not to approach you and not the other way around”. Fury laid down the laws for Torchwood’s visit and then added his final blow: “And if any of your agents cause me a moment’s trouble I will give them to the Black Widow to play with.”

Jack knew that Tosh and Owen wouldn’t be the problem; no, that would be Gwen and Jack knew exactly what was going to happen. Positive that she knew best for everyone involved, Gwen would sneak around, prying into places she shouldn’t until she finally found Ianto. Then, thinking that her compassionate heart gave her the right she would ask inappropriate questions, pushing and badgering the poor man until she got answers. Finally, she would demand forgiveness from Ianto for being so invisible and forgettable around the Hub.

Jack knew perfectly well that to everyone else it made absolutely no sense, but he’d come to understand that to Gwen’s slightly twisted mind, the fact that they’d all ignored Ianto was entirely his own fault. Forcing a tone of cheerful acceptance into this voice, Jack answered, “Sounds fair. I’ll keep my team under control.” ‘I just hope that Gwen doesn’t make me out to be a liar.’

“Fine, then you have an agreement, but the moment this bastard is caught you are off of my Helicarrier. I don’t care if we’re over the middle of the ocean!” Fury growled before slamming the phone down. He had agents to talk to and they were not going to be happy to hear what he had to say.

Jack stared at the phone with a playful grin tugging at his lips; if nothing else, he was going to see Ianto again and as for bugging Fury? Well, that was just icing on the cake! His grin turned into a full-blown smile; this entire debacle just might be worth it in the end.

******

Maria Hill looked up as her boss stomped into the room; he’d been in a foul mood ever since he’d talked to Jack Harkness a few hours ago and that was never a good thing.

Nick Fury refused to sit on the chair that Natasha kicked out for him and instead stood at the end of the table staring at his agents one by one; just behind and slightly to the side was Tony Stark who’d tagged along just because he could. Sometimes Nick was actually happy to see Stark sticking his nose in where it didn't belong, and this was one of those rare times. Stark had given Ianto a safe place to stay while he recovered and in truth, it was doing him good, though Ianto was still a little leery of the robots Stark had throughout the Tower.

However, given what he had gone through with the Cyberman, it was understandable as to why he wasn’t comfortable being around them just yet. Although, to give credit where it was due, Ianto had stopped flinching whenever Jarvis spoke to him (or to anyone else when he was in the same room) and he’d even begun to voluntarily talk back to Jarvis. Stark did worry just a bit what kind of affect too much exposure to the robotic life forms would have on Ianto, who was looking rather pale as he sat next to Clint.

"I just got a call from Torchwood Three's Jack Harkness, they are requesting our help." Fury wasted no time in telling them why he had called this meeting and then he braced himself for the explosions that were sure to follow.

"Oh hell no!" Clint wasn't letting those bastards anywhere near Ianto, not when his partner was still waking up in a cold sweat nearly every night with a terrified scream on his lips as he pleaded and cried out for anyone to help him. "After everything they’ve done to our Ianto, why should we lift a finger to help them?" Clint growled out as he shot angrily to his feet.

Pale and shaking from Fury’s news, Ianto reached out for his lover and tugged Clint back down into his chair; he wasn’t sure how he felt about seeing his former co-workers again but Jack must be truly desperate if he was asking SHIELD for help.

"Because something or someone is wiping out the survivors of Torchwood One and Ianto is next on that list," Fury told them point-blank. He saw as Ianto paled even more and he wished there had been a better way, an easier way, to tell his godson such distressful news, but he didn’t sugar coat things, not even for family.

That pronouncement stopped all protests in their tracks as around the table something close to dread along with horror and protectiveness dawned in their eyes. Hearing a frightened gasp next to him, Clint’s hand shot out to wrap protectively around Ianto’s waist to pull his lover close to him.

Nick Fury focused on his godson, noticing the way he was doing his best to hide his fear and trembling. “Are you up for this, Ianto?”

Bolstered by Clint’s love and support Ianto looked Fury straight in the eye. “Yes, sir; I’ll help in whatever way I can,” he promised even though his heart was beating a mile a minute. _‘This_ _has_ _to be what_ _my_ _dreams are_ _talking_ _about!’_ Ianto wracked his brain but he had no clue who would do such a thing or why they would be hunting down the other survivors, not if it was him they really wanted.


	7. Chapter 7

Tensions were running high as the Torchwood Airplane, piloted by a sombre and distinctly uncommunicative UNIT pilot, touched down with expert precision on the deck of SHIELD’s Helicarrier where, despite everyone’s advice, Ianto refused to wait below deck. He didn’t think anyone knew that he’d spent the last two hours pacing a straight line forty-seven steps long, back and forth, back and forth; he wanted to get this meeting with his former teammates out of the way.

When he’d gotten word that the plane was on final approach, Ianto had straightened his suit, checked his breath, and climbed the stairs to the flight deck. Buffeted by the wind, Clint and Natasha stood on either side of Ianto providing loving support and a silent warning to their visitors; they could feel his body begin to tremble as he watched the Torchwood team exit the plane.

When the foursome strode up in front of him, Ianto found himself curling closer to Clint, unable to lift his eyes from the floor and look at his former teammates in the eyes. Feeling the fear emanating from his lover, Clint wrapped his arm protectively around Ianto’s waist and glared at Torchwood as though daring them to say or do something.

It broke Toshiko’s heart to see Ianto; he looked so small and fragile next to Clint and it was clear to anyone with eyes that Ianto wasn’t dealing well. She simply itched to reach out and hug him, to try and protect him from the world but she instinctively knew that she’d be doing more damage than good. _‘Oh, Ianto! Did we do this to you?’_ her heart cried out. _‘I’m so, so sorry!’_

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear to each and every one of you: unless Ianto voluntarily speaks to you or seeks you out, you _will_ leave him alone. I wouldn't be held responsible for what I and my fellow agents will do to you if you do not respect Ianto's need for privacy and space,” Phil growled out protectively and his tone left no room for argument or questions concerning his son. In fact there was even a bit of a dare to his words and in his eyes.

Watching his lover in action, Tony knew he shouldn’t be as turned on as he was but protective Phil was hot as hell; he shifted uncomfortably as his trousers tightened and really wished that he could get them somewhere alone for an hour or so.

Despite the sheer magnificence of the airship they were standing on, Jack only had eyes for Ianto. He swallowed hard as he tried to think of something to say, some way of apologising but faced with the truth of what they’d done to the younger man, Jack was simply at a loss for words. Ianto looked terrible; he was very pale, there were dark circles under his eyes and he’d obviously lost weight he couldn’t afford to lose. Jack’s guilt increased one thousand-fold as he silently acknowledged the role he’d playedin bringing about Ianto’s fragile condition.

Reluctantly tearing his eyes away from Ianto, Jack turned to Phil and solemnly nodded his acceptance of the rules. “I promise that we will respect Ianto’s need for distance,” Jack vowed even though it pained him to do so. He wanted so desperately at beg Ianto’s forgiveness.

“Thank you, Jack,” Ianto’s soft whisper was more than enough proof for Jack that no matter how much he wanted to be the one cradling the younger man in his arms, he had done the right thing by agreeing to SHIELD’s terms.

******

It was proving to be quite difficult for the team to be so close to Ianto and yet so far away. As a doctor, Owen wanted to examine the man, to satisfy himself that Ianto was getting the best care possible. Tosh and Jack wanted to apologise to Ianto and to find out what they could do to make things better for him. But since their meeting on the deck Ianto had made himself very scarce and the whenever they did catch a glimpse of him he was in the protective presence of Clint or one of his friends. It was a very frustrating situation for the trio; they wanted so much to talk to Ianto but they feared pissing off their hosts.

Unfortunately, they’d forgotten that Gwen Cooper always does exactly what she wants when she wants without ever stopping to think of the consequences.

"Ianto, pet," Gwen cooed in a sickly-sweet voice. She’d been spying on him for the past hour, waiting like a spider in her web for a moment when he was alone and she could pounce.

Ianto shuddered; he should have known that if there was going to be one person with Torchwood who couldn't be bothered to obey orders it was Gwen bloody Cooper. The woman was to full of herself, too set in her ways and the only one stubborn enough – make that stupid enough – to dare ignoring a direct order from Nick Fury. _‘The woman must have a death wish,’_ Ianto thought dispassionately.

"I have nothing to say to you, Gwen," and he really didn’t.

Part of his healing process had been the ‘empty chair’ exercise in which Ianto had pictured the object of his emotions and had then unleased the full power of his anger on them. It had taken several sessions in Gwen’s case, but Ianto had finally said everything he needed to say and he was done. He simply had nothing of importance left to say to her and no desire to engage in idle conversation.

Ianto just wanted to meet up with Clint for lunch before heading over to Tony’s; since Pepper had taken to running Stark’s Enterprise Tony was in need of a new personal assistant and learning of Ianto’s eidetic memory and his penchant for perfection regarding paperwork and artefacts, Tony had hired him on the spot. Ianto dearly loved his new role; Stark was a bona fide genius and there were times when even his off-the-cuff chitchat challenged Ianto’s mind. The fact that he could be away from the Helicarrier while his former teammates were aboard was merely an added perk of the job as far as Ianto was concerned.

Gwen reached out and snagged Ianto’s arm as he tried to get away from her. "Really, Ianto, don't you think this nonsense has gone on long enough?” she scolded him “It wasn't our fault that you were under cyber control. If you’d have said something, we would have helped you. You were so damn secretive how were we supposed to know?" Gwen really was just trying to be nice; there was simply no reason for Ianto to be acting like a spoiled bratty child.

"That's the whole problem; none of you took the time to get to know me!” Ianto’s temper started to get the best of him. “You were so busy trying to get into Jack's pants that you couldn’t see anything past your own libido! You walk around thinking that you’re so much better than everyone else because you're somehow more human than the rest of us! Well you're wrong, Gwen! You are _not_ more human than I am!” Ianto shouted as loudly as he could, finally losing what little control he had. In the back of his mind a satisfied little voice said, _‘Oh my god that felt good!’_

“I believe that Director Fury made his point very clear that you were not to approach Ianto under any circumstance,” Maria snapped from behind Gwen. She’d been in a room further up the hallway and had come out as soon as she heard Gwen’s voice; she had been tempted to step in immediately but something told her that Ianto needed to remain in control of the situation. Even now she didn’t bother summoning Barton, Romanoff or Coulson; she didn’t need to as there were already several junior agents hurrying off to inform them.

"Miss Cooper, since it is obvious that you can't follow orders I am assigning you a personal guard. I think Agent Romanoff will do nicely.” A smirk made its way onto Maria’s beautiful face; she knew that Natasha was just itching to get her hands on Gwen Cooper. Stepping between Gwen and Ianto she smiled sweetly at him and said, “Ianto, if you’re done here, I do believe that Clint is waiting for you to join him.”

Grateful for her timely intervention, Ianto smiled shakily at Maria as he muttered a quick, “thank you,” before walking away with as much dignity as he could muster; he refused to allow Gwen any further opportunity to see how she’d affected him. 

Maria waited until Ianto was out of sight before pinning Gwen with a cold smile; she was just itching to wrap her hands around the bitch’s throat. “You will come with me, Agent Cooper. You were specifically ordered to stay with your team and not to contact Ianto. You chose to deliberately ignore both Director Fury and your own Captain Harkness. If I were counting I would say that is already one two strikes against you.”

“How dare you treat me like this!” Gwen rounded on Maria self-importantly. “I am second-in-command of Torchwood and I have every right to conduct this investiga…”

Maria held up her hand, stopping Gwen in mid tirade. “You’re onboard SHIELD’s flagship which means the only authority you have is what Director Fury grants you which means you have absolutely none. Zip. Nada. Zilch… need I go on?” she asked sweetly although her eyes were flashing with fire.

“Fine!” Gwen flounced, “Then take me to see Fury and I’ll show him exactly how qualified I am…”

Maria rolled her eyes with barely disguised amusement; “Don’t think for one moment that flashing your doe eyes or flopping your cleavage around will get you out of trouble with Director Fury. You’d better believe me when I tell you that there are at least a dozen people on this Helicarrier that wouldn’t mind tossing you right over the side,” Maria growled out her warning. “You’re on very thin ice, Miss Cooper; you’d better start tiptoeing around here.”

******

Natasha had been waiting – and secretly hoping – for this very moment as she faced Gwen and there was definitely something of a wolf in her grin. "Tell me something, Cooper, does your boyfriend know that you're sleeping around on him? Does he know that you’d dump him in a heartbeat if Harkness even gave you the time of day?" Natasha asked Gwen.

Stiffening indignantly, Gwen glared at Natasha. "How dare you! You know nothing of me or my life with Rhys or what Jack and I have between us!"

"You're right, I know nothing about you but from what I have heard you claim to be this oh-so-caring woman who was brought in to remind the others what it's like to be human. Now personally, I find that insulting on behalf of the others, they all seem pretty human to me.” Over a cup of his excellent coffee, Ianto had told Natasha how Jack had been dazzled by the Welshwoman’s flirting. He thought that hiring Gwen had been a good way of keeping them human in the face of alien horrors. On the one hand, Natasha could appreciate Jack’s wanting the best for his team, but she just could not understand how or why Gwen thought she was more human than the rest or how she’d managed to convince Jack of that delusion. If anything, Ianto’s devotion to what he believed at the time to be his girlfriend, Lisa Hallett, had really proved just how human he was.

Unable to think of something that would defend herself, Gwen scowled, “I don’t have to explain myself to you or anyone,” and she crossed her arms over her chest belligerently.

“No, but you do have to explain yourself to me.”

Gwen turned white as a sheet as she whipped around and took in Jack’s cold, steely gaze and the deep scowl on his face. “Jack!” she exclaimed as she plastered a big smile on her face. “It’s not what you think! This is all just a big mistake. Why don’t the two of us go talk about it over a cup of coffee?” She reached out to put a hand on Jack’s arm but he took a step back and her hand fell on empty air.

“Did you or did you not approach Ianto even after we had been warned to keep our distance from him?” Jack demanded, his tone deadly quiet.

“Oh that,” Gwen waved her hand dismissively. “Well... I just really wanted to apologise and the minute he saw me he went just off on me like a crazy man! You know me, I only ever want the best for everyone.” She tried on her most beguiling smile. “It wasn’t my fault, Jack; they’re blowing this out of proportion.” Gwen needed Jack to see that she was in the right. “Now let’s put this silly unpleasantness behind us and go get that coffee, okay?”

“I don’t think so, Gwen; you are going to be staying right here under the very watchful gaze of the lovely Agent Romanoff.” Jack knew that they were only onboard the Helicarrier by Director Fury’s good graces, to help keep Ianto safe, and he was truly worried that if they pissed off the others too much they would be gone in a heartbeat.

******

They had dreamed about this, planned for it, and waited for this moment for so very long, they were going to enjoy themselves and prolong making his suffering for as long as possible.

It was kind of a shame he’d been so easy to capture; truth was they’d have had a whole lot more fun if he’d put up a struggle.  They’d thought that as a Torchwood agent he’d be able to defend himself – for a while at least – against all takers. Oh well, there was still lots of time to have fun with him.

“Soon, Lisa; soon he will pay for his failure. Oh we are going to have so much fun breaking you!” they giggled as they stroked Ianto’s hair, oh yes they were going to enjoy this.

******

“Stay away from Ianto.”

Sighing with resignation, Jack turned to see Clint glowering at him. “Listen, Barton, I _have_ been staying away from Ianto.” _‘No matter how much it pains me to.’_

Clint pushed himself off of the wall that he was leaning against. “That’s not what I mean and you know it. I see the way you look at Ianto; you want him, but he never _was_ yours and he will never _be_ yours.”

“I admit I have a certain reputation to uphold and that Ianto is a good-looking man and yes, I wanted him from the moment I laid eyes on him and I still want him today. But as surprising as it may be, I have one golden rule that I never break: I don’t come between happy couples. I see the way Ianto looks at you, I can tell that he loves you very, very much and that you obviously love him just as much. All I want his for him to be happy and that happiness will only be found with you,” Jack explained.

Flabbergasted by Jack’s honesty and his observations, Clint opened his mouth to reply but before he could say anything Tony strolled in.

“Legolas, where are you hiding my personal coffee god?” Tony asked, Ianto was supposed to have been back at his place an hour ago.

Clint glanced at his watch, then compared that time with the wall clock and froze. “Ianto left almost an hour ago, Tony. I walked him to his car myself.”

Tony glanced up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, where is Ianto?”

The response came immediately: “Ianto Jones is not in the Tower.”

“Is he onboard the Helicarrier?”

“Ianto Jones is not onboard the Heli...”

Frustrated, Jack interrupted, “Jarvis do you have any idea where Ianto Jones is right now?”

It took several seconds for the AI to respond this time and the news was not good. “I have no information for you.”

A sharp pain pierced Jack’s heart as his hand flew to his comm. “Tosh, Ianto’s missing! Track him, NOW!” Jack ordered praying that they weren’t too late.


	8. Chapter 8

Pain, persistent burning pain was what drew Ianto from the comfort and safety of darkness and the instant he opened his eyes a scream tore itself from his lips.

“Oooo! Pretty boy is wake, now the fun can begin!” There was a note of delight in the voice that made Ianto cringe in fear.

A moment later the pain receded slightly making Ianto shiver and shudder with relief; his shoulders ached and a quick glance upwards found them shackled above his head. Licking his dry lips Ianto tried to focus on his surroundings, looking around for clues to where he was and when he did his eyes lit on a small metal table covered with various torture devices. Trying to fight down the panic suddenly rising in his chest, Ianto swallowed hard. “Ianto Jones, we have been waiting for you. You are going to pay for failing our beloved mistress.”

Despite the haze of pain Ianto knew that voice, he knew it well. “Bryn?” He tried twisting around towards the man and was shocked by what he saw.

Formerly considered a very good-looking man by most of the women at Torchwood, now the man’s face was deformed and horribly scarred by burns but Ianto knew that man well. Bryn Yarwood, the man who’d never made any secret of the fact that he was deeply in love with Lisa and had been Torchwood One’s most powerful telepath stood before him. Against his will, Ianto gasped in recognition, fear and disbelief.

“So pretty boy _does_ remember us,” Bryn nodded approvingly. “Good, then he also remembers how he failed our Lisa. You do remember Lisa, don’t you? You were supposed to fix her but instead you lead her to her death.” Bryn reached and ran his fingers lovingly across the tray of instruments before selecting his first weapon. “And now, old friend, you will pay,” he purred happily.

Struggling to get the words out past the huge lump in his throat, Ianto asked, “If you were after me all this time then why target the others?” He had to know why Bryn had slaughtered all the others.

Bryn shrugged nonchalantly, “Actually, they were supposed to be a calling card meant to draw you out but then you had to leave and ruin all my hard work. But I did learn one thing, no one cared about them before or after they died, not even Torchwood Three, and no one is going to care about _you.”_ Bryn lovingly caressed the metal implement in his hand. “But it doesn’t matter because you were all expendable. The only one who mattered was Lisa and now because of you, our mate is dead and so there is no point in the others living.”

In a near-blinding flash of comprehension, Ianto realised that as her lover, Bryn had been psychically anchored to Lisa and that the link had remained active even after she had been converted. Without Lisa to keep him grounded his mind had snapped and Bryn quickly became lost to the Cyberman program designed to keep Lisa safe.

As Bryn brought the torture instrument up to Ianto’s chest, one thought rolled through his mind on an endless loop, _‘Please, Clint, find me soon!’_

******

Emerging from her helicopter, Pepper Potts hurried below deck and into the Helicarrier’s command centre; she took one look at the chaos around her and her heart sank at the ridiculous scene. Toshiko Sato and Tony Stark were the only ones not involved in the glaring, posturing and shouting going on in the room. Putting her fingers to mouth Pepper gave a sharp, piercing whistle bringing the noise in the room to an immediate end and focussing all eyes on her. “Enough! This is not helping Ianto, and you know it! There will be time for you all to fight like children later; right now saving Ianto is the _only_ thing that matters.”

Clint stepped away from Jack – they’d been just inches apart and moments away from coming to blows – Tony grinned fondly at Pepper. “See, this is why I love you! You can keep everyone in line with a single look! Now, thanks to the brilliant and beautiful Toshiko we think we’ve found Ianto.”

With a single keystroke Tosh sent a map up to one view screen and then on the second a photo and dossier of the man they were positive was responsible. “Meet Bryn Yarwood, one of the few remaining survivors of the Battle of Canary Wharf and fiancé of one Lisa Hallett, deceased.”

One look at the information displayed above had Owen erupting in a series of colourful curses. “The man is a blasted telepath! According to these test results,” he pointed to a small chart in the bottom corner, “the most powerful psychic Torchwood’s ever had. Tosh, would you mind…” Before she could respond, the medic rolled her chair aside and took over her keyboard.

As he frantically typed, pages of data scrolled across the view screen; finally he stopped and turned to the assembled group. “It’s even worse than I thought. Yvonne Hartman’s scientists were developing a program of mind control using Yarwood’s telepathic powers. To make things easier for their first trial, they used Lisa as his subject, taking advantage of the emotional connection they already had.”

“That’s disgusting!” Maria Hill voiced what they were all thinking.

“Yeah, well, it gets better,” Owen continued. “Given the time frame of the program’s testing and Canary Wharf, he was no doubt still psychically linked to Lisa when she was converted. When she put the implant into Ianto’s brain and made him her slave, Yarwood became connected to him as well, and then after Lisa’s death, the bastard was able to retain a fragile bond to Ianto. I’m not an expert in psychology, but I’d say he blames Ianto for failing Lisa and contributing to her death. There’s no telling what this man is capable of!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Ianto is in the hands of a mad man and we need to find him now!” Clint felt every inch of his body literally vibrating with the intense need to save Ianto; he had to find his lover and bring him home safely.

“Clint’s right; we’re just wasting time!” Phil wanted his son back now.

 “You’re not going to kill this poor man, are you?” The only reason Gwen was even in the room was because Natasha was there and Gwen couldn’t be trusted on her own. “It’s clear that he’s just a heartbroken man who needs our help.” She looked around the room, waiting for people to agree with her.

Jack shook his head and clenched his teeth to stop himself from saying something he’d regret, sighed deeply as he saw the numerous deadly glares that Gwen was getting from the SHIELD agents. “Gwen, don’t you understand that there is no helping him? His mind has been damaged beyond repair, and he tortured and killed the other survivors. If it comes down to it and I have to make a choice between a lunatic murderer and Ianto, I’m going to save Ianto and I know I’m not the only one.”

Natasha pinned Gwen with a glare. “If you get in my way, Cooper, I will shoot you where you stand,” she promised. “None of you mean anything to me,” Natasha turned on her heel and stalked out of the control room with Clint right behind her. They had work to do and very little time in which to get it done.

Shocked by Natasha’s death threat, Gwen looked at Jack. “Are you going to let her talk to me like that?”

“Shut the fuck up, Gwen,” Owen growled, “before I shoot you for her.”

At the door Phil hesitated before looking over his shoulder and addressing the Torchwood team, “There’s a reason why we’re the best and it would be in your best interest to stay out of our way,” he advised before exiting.

Tony grinned proudly as he watched Phil leave. “Don’t you just love it when he’s all growly and forceful like that?” With a comical and suggestive waggle of his eyebrows Tony followed after his lover.

Director Fury prepared to follow his agents, but he stopped in front of Jack. “I trust that you will be able to keep your agent under control.” It was no secret who he was talking about.

Jack pinned Gwen with his own grim look that clearly said he was thinking about shooting her himself. “Don’t worry, I will.”

******

“I must say that we like it when you scream, we like it very much; each one is like sweet, sweet music to our ears.” Bryn was the picture of cheerfulness as he licked Ianto’s blood from his razor-sharp knife. He had been using it to cut various designs into Ianto’s skin; none of them were deep enough to leave noticeable scars on him. After all, he didn’t really need to cause that much physical damage, he knew precisely how to cut someone and inflict excruciating pain.

Even though he bit his tongue until it bled, Ianto couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped his lips. Logically he knew it had only been a few hours since he’d been taken but Bryn was an expert at torture and to his victim it felt like weeks since he’d been without pain. In an effort to delay Bryn’s next move, Ianto asked, “I have to know, was it you sending me those dreams of Lisa?”

“Lisa… our beautiful Lisa...” A crazed grin crossed Bryn’s face and a faraway look entered his eyes. “Oh yes, that was so much fun, all your guilt and angst brought me such joy. Did you ever know that you were always Yvonne’s favourite? She had such high hopes for you, Ianto Jones; that’s why she had to keep her future pet safe and that’s why _you_ were placed in the safe Archives instead of our precious Lisa. She would have been safe during the attack, hidden in the vaults full of artefacts.” The expression on Bryn’s face suddenly changed, becoming dark, angry and ugly. He pressed the point of his knife to the corner of Ianto’s eye. “You should have been in that conversion unit, not our Lisa.”

“Yvonne didn’t have any plans for me! I was just an Archivist, there is nothing special about me, I swear!” Ianto tried to look at Bryn but he couldn’t see anything but the knife blade. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Yvonne never even knew my name.”

Bryn shook his head with amused pity; he actually found Ianto’s ignorance endearing. “Pretty little Ianto doesn’t know what we know or what Yvonne knew. Oh she tried her hardest to keep that knowledge hidden from the Cybermen, but when she became one of them they learned _all_ her dirty little secrets. Lisa then shared the truth about your other parent with us and I must confess that if we weren’t going to kill you, we could make a fortune selling you to the highest bidder. That was actually Lisa’s suggestion; she wanted to do you a favour after you saved her but since you so selfishly let her die, it’s only fair that we kill you on her behalf.” Bryn smiled serenely at Ianto. “Poetic justice, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think so.”

Clint’s voice had always been one of the most beautiful sounds Ianto had ever heard and hearing it now was no different.

“Clint!” Ianto had never loved his boyfriend more than at that moment. He could barely see the man but there was no mistaking the joy hearing him brought to Ianto’s heart.

“We’re here, Ianto,” Phil Coulson spoke up. “You’re safe now.”

“No! What are you doing here?!” Bryn demanded; it wasn’t possible! How could they have snuck up on him; why didn’t he hear them?

“Hello, Mr. Yarwood, I’m the Black Widow; perhaps you’d like to read my mind?” Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bryn cast about, searching for a connection with any of his unwanted guests. “No!” he cried out. “That’s not possible!” No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t read any of their minds! They were blank canvases hung on white walls; if he weren’t looking at them he’d have sworn they didn’t actually exist.

Jack’s grin was pure shark, his white teeth gleaming as he smiled at Bryn, “You worked for Torchwood; you should know anything is possible.”

“It’s over, Yarwood,” Nick Fury stepped to the forefront of the group. “Let’s…”

“NO!” With an ear-splitting shriek of anger, Bryn Yarwood tightened his grip on the knife in his hand; “I won’t let you stop me! Ianto Jones must die!” He raised the blade above his head, aimed for his captive’s heart and lunged for Ianto.

It was the last thing Bryn Yarwood ever did.

To Ianto it was a matter of déjà vu as once again he saw someone he knew being pumped full of bullets by his teammates. Despite the fact that not ten seconds earlier Bryn was solely intent on murdering him, Ianto mourned for another life lost to the legacy of the Cybermen.

Once he was sure that the insane man was down to stay Clint wasted no time in moving towards Ianto, barely noticing when Jack joined him in freeing Ianto. “You are _never_ leaving my sight again,” Clint growled as he freed Ianto’s hand and brought it to his lips for a quick kiss.

A tired smile graced Ianto’s lips, “Sounds good to me,” Ianto agreed in a hoarse whisper, his throat raw and sore from all the screaming he had done. He raised his hand and gently stroked the side of Clint’s face, his smile widening as he felt Clint lean into his caress.

In the middle of releasing Ianto’s feet, Jack caught sight of the display between the two men, staying silent as he watched Clint and Ianto share their moment. Witnessing the love between the two of them made Jack’s heart ache as he longed for what he could never have, someone like Ianto – well, Ianto, actually – to share his long life with.

“Clint, he said Yvonne Hartman had plans for me.” His throat ached but he had to know. “What was Bryn talking about?”

“I don’t know, Yan, but I’ll find out, okay?” Clint brushed the fringe from Ianto’s sweat-soaked forehead. “Now stop talking and rest.”

Once Ianto was freed from the shackles and straps that imprisoned him, it wasn’t easy for either Clint or Jack to give him to Tony, but they both knew that Iron Man was the fastest way to get Ianto to the treatment he desperately needed; it was obvious that he’d lost a lot of blood judging by the dozens of cuts all over this arms, legs and torso.

As they watched Iron Man disappearing into the distance carrying Ianto away from them, Tosh and Owen shared a worried look. “Yvonne Hartman having plans for anyone can never be a good thing,” Owen commented.

Tosh slowly shook her head. “There is so much more to Ianto Jones than I think we will ever know.” Still she was already coming up with ways to look into Yvonne’s plans; she’d failed Ianto once before and she was not going to fail him again.


	9. Chapter 9

“I’m sorry, no matter how you spin it, I don’t like this.” Clint was adamant.

Natasha and Ianto both rolled their eyes and not for the first time during the conversation.

“I agree with Legolas. There is no reason why you have to talk to those people, Ianto,” Tony nodded cheerfully.

Phil could feel a headache forming in the back of his skull; it was _never_ a good thing when Clint and Tony agreed on something. Unfortunately, two against one wasn’t going to work this time. “I understand that you don’t like the Torchwood team, expect for Toshiko, whom you’ve already tried to steal away with the promise of her own lab – or so I’ve heard – but they came through for us when it really counted. I’m sorry, but if Ianto wants to talk to them then we should respect his wishes.”

Tony’s pout grew as he pointed a finger at Ianto’s chest, taking care not to disturb Ianto’s healing injuries. “Just remember that you are now _our_ coffee god and I expressly forbid you from sharing your gift with anyone outside SHIELD, got it?”

Ianto found himself rolling his eyes again but this time with a smile playing at the edges of his lips. “Trust you, Tony, to worry about my coffee and I promise. Now trust me, guys, just because I want talk to them doesn’t mean I’m even _thinking_ of leaving you or SHIELD. You’re my family and I will never have that kind of bond with them, but I think or at least I’m hoping we can be friends,” Ianto explained. _‘Well friends with a few of them anyway.’_

Clint sighed with acceptance, he knew that Ianto had to do what he felt was right and he was proud of him for that. The problem was he didn’t trust Jack to behave himself around Ianto. Clint didn’t know who the other man thought he was fooling but the way he believed that Ianto had done everything because he loved Lisa was pure jealousy and nothing else. “I don’t like it, Ianto, but I do understand and I love you so I will support you in whatever you choose to do.”

Natasha smiled softly at Ianto. “You do whatever makes you happy and if any of these fools give you grief I’ll take care of them for you.”

Tony looked at Ianto and stuck out his lower lip dramatically. “She’s not lying, you know, you _are_ her favourite and it’s not fair!” The genius did everything but stomp his foot as he complained; he then turned his pleading eyes onto Phil. “At least I’m _your_ favourite, right?” For just a microsecond there was a hint of anxiety in his eyes.

Phil nodded his expression deadly serious, “Well of course you are!” he declared. Then, as a smile started to blossom on Tony’s face he continued, “…right after my son and Natasha of course, and then there’s Pepper and Maria, and I am rather fond of Jarvis…”

At the affronted looks on both Tony and Clint’s faces Ianto and Phil couldn’t hold back a second longer and their laughter echoed through the room.

******

Tosh paused in her nervous pacing to ask, “This is a good sign, right? That Ianto wants to talk to us, right?” Even as she resumed her pacing she continued to ring her hands together. 

As his computer genius passed by him for the fortieth time, Jack gently stopped her in her tracks and smiled down gently at her. “I think so.” He pulled a chair out from the boardroom table and sat her down next to Owen. “The fact that it’s his idea is a very good sign.”

Owen clapped a hand on Tosh’s shoulder and then shot a withering glance at a noticeably sullen Gwen who was seated on the opposite side of the table. “That is if _someone_ can keep her big mouth shut,” he said in a very pointed tone.

Gwen flung herself backwards in her chair and huffed angrily; for a moment she looked like she was going to speak but thankfully for once she stayed silent.

As he watched Owen talk quietly with Toshiko, making plans to invite Ianto to lunch, while Gwen sat glowering at them, refusing to be part of the conversation, part of his team, Jack knew that he was going to have to make some serious changes. Gwen was far too stubborn and set in her ways to actually assume the duties of liaison between the two agencies, especially ones that already have a contentious relationship. A thought occurred to Jack, _‘That former partner of hers… what was his name? ...anyway, he must have gotten pretty good at straightening out all the feathers Gwen ruffled; I should probably look into hiring him.’_

Any future plotting regarding ways to overcome Gwen’s ‘shortcomings’ was cut off as the door opened and Ianto entered the meeting room that Fury had leant them. Jack was delighted to see that thankfully for once Ianto was without his ever-present bodyguards.

Toshiko was the first one out of her chair and moving to greet Ianto, followed just as quickly by Owen and Jack. As predictable as ever, Gwen took her sweet time, pushing in her chair – for the first time ever – and pausing on the landing to pull out her mobile and check her messages. Even when she did get to join them, she flounced over to sit at the nearest chair, deliberately ignoring Ianto. A quick shake of his head over Gwen’s behaviour and turned his attention to what was really important, Ianto and the rest of his team. Jack could see that it was taking all of Tosh’s willpower not to rush to Ianto and hug him and truth be told, that was all Jack wanted to do as well. _‘I know how you feel, Tosh, I know how you feel.’_

It felt strange for Ianto to be back in the Hub, he knows that none of the others were too happy to have brought Torchwood back to Cardiff, and Ianto secretly thought that they just wanted to make sure that they went home. Ianto was the first to break the ice; he smiled at his three former co-workers. “I want to thank you for coming to New York to help us; means a lot to me, to my family and to the other survivors.” He turned to Tosh with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, but Tony hacked into your system and showed me the plans you’re setting motion and I want to thank you for that as well. I know a lot of people will benefit from them.”

One delicate eyebrow arched at Ianto’s confession but Tosh was simply too happy to see Ianto to worry about an intrusion into her computer system. She was certain that all sensitive data was far too well protected for Stark to have found anything of value or interest, but nonetheless, she decided she’d better run a thorough security check as soon as she could. “It’s all right, Ianto,” she smiled, “I trust you.”

With a grateful smile, Ianto inclined his head, “Thank you, T…”

“Yeah, cos he’s never done anything sneaky and underhanded before, has he,” Gwen muttered just loudly enough to be heard.

“Gwen!” Tosh was appalled by her team-mate’s behaviour.

Gwen finally looked up at Ianto, hatred burning in her eyes, “Well it’s true, isn’t it?”

In unison, Jack and Owen both hissed, “Shut up!”

Although he paled noticeably at Gwen’s words, Ianto continued speaking calmly. “I talked to Alejandra while flying over here and while you’re still not amongst her favourite people, she wanted me to send you her sincere thanks. With your support, Christian’s outlook is looking much better.”

“I am so glad!” Tosh looked at Owen; it was his treatment plan for Christian that the hospital was following.

Uncharacteristically modest, the medic ducked his head. “It’s nothing,” he told them softly, but it was obvious that he was touched by Ianto’s words and proud of his role in helping Bryn Yarwood’s unfortunate victim.

The young Welshman took a deep breath and even though his words were meant for the group, his eyes lingered on Jack the longest. “I want to say that I miss you and that I have forgiven you for everything that happened while I was here. With the help of SHIELD’s medical and counselling staff and the support of Clint and my father, I’m getting better every day but I’m not fully there yet.” The time had come; _‘It’s now or never,’_ Ianto told himself. “You all took advantage of me; you never once looked past your own needs to see that I was in trouble, I was suffering and that I desperately needed your help. That’s not something I can get over easily and I’ve accepted that it’s going to take time to come to terms with everything. I’m determined to get my life back to normal and hopefully someday I can see you as friends, but that’s not today.”

“We understand, Ianto, and we’re not going to push you into something you’re not ready for. We don’t mind waiting until you’re ready,” Tosh spoke up.

“Oi, she’s right, mate, as were you; we really were wankers to you and no one deserves to be treated like that,” Owen added.

For the first time since Ianto walked through the door, Jack found the ability to speak to him. “Ianto, I apologise; we wronged you greatly and that will forever haunt us, it’ll haunt me. I deliberately flirted with you and lusted after you every chance I got but I never once took the time to get to know you. I’ll be the first to admit that when someone shiny and new comes along I turn my attention to her instead. I want you to know I did that because I was hurt when all our flirting never went anywhere and I saw an easy way to make you jealous.”

Jack ignored Gwen’s horrified gasp at his words and the death glare she aimed at his back and instead focused all his attention on Ianto. “I hope you can forgive me someday and it doesn’t matter how long it takes for that day to come I’m willing to wait because being considered a friend of Ianto Jones is well worth waiting for.”

Ianto felt tears stinging at the back of his eyes and as he looked at the trio in front of him, for a brief moment he felt like he belonged with these people. He let his mind wander, thinking about how differently things would have been if they had taken the time to get to know him. He even thought about him and Jack together but just for a split second, that was a dead end; he loved Clint and they were perfectly happy together. “I look forward to the day that I can be considered a friend of Jack Harkness as well.”

******

In his office Nick Fury was glued to his CCTV screen with a scowl on his face as he watched his godson talking to the enemy.

“You do not look happy.”

“You’re damn right I’m not happy!” Nick snarled. “I never should have assigned Ianto to infiltrate Torchwood. I should have _known_ that bitch, Hartman, would figure out who Ianto was. There was a reason that woman was the leader of Torchwood One and I should have been smarter than her,” Nick growled under his breath as his anger with himself grew stronger.

His guest raised an enquiring eyebrow. “And you think that Ianto mending bridges with Three is only going to lead to more problems? Now I’m not a big fan of Harkness, he’s just a little too good-looking and too charming for my tastes, but even I can see that he genuinely cares about Jones.”

“That’s the problem; I _know_ that Harkness, Sato and even Harper care about Ianto, but they also heard Bryn’s rant about Hartman’s knowing that Ianto’s special as well as her plans for him.” Nick got up and started pacing around his desk. “I’m sorry but you can’t tell me that they won’t be curious about that or that they won’t try finding out what Yarwood was talking about. What if they figure out Yvonne’s plans for Ianto and and come up with some idiotic plan to keep him safe?” Fury was genuinely concerned about his godson’s welfare.

“Well that’s why you have me keeping an eye on them; I’m going to go back to Cardiff and pick up right where I left off, being the pain in arse detective that enjoys getting in their way.”

“Are you sure? You’re more than welcome to stay here and work for SHIELD full-time, you know.” SHIELD’s director threw himself back down in his chair.

“I think Harkness might try to steal one of my men, PC Davidson, for his little team and it’ll be fun to make that as difficult as possible. Plus, it would look odd if I suddenly disappeared and stopped giving them grief whenever our paths cross,” Kathy Swanson calmly pointed out as she slipped into the seat across from Nick and shared a knowing glance with Phil.

Phil frowned. “We all knew that this day could come, that we couldn’t keep who Ianto really is a secret forever. You and I both know that the truth always has a way of coming out. SHIELD won’t have any problems keeping Ianto safe from local threats but it’s very possible that only Torchwood may be able to keep him safe from whatever else is out there.”

Fury’s scowl deepened even further. “I still don’t like it.”

******

Concealed in the air ducts, his favourite haunt for spying on the goings-on of SHIELD, Clint’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he listened to the conversation; he wasn’t sure what they were keeping from him and Ianto. _‘If_ _anyone_ _is_ _going to keep my Ianto safe_ _it’s_ _going to be_ _me!’_

******

_Unknown location_

He could feel it in his bones just as surely as he could feel the sun on his face; the time was coming soon, very soon, when he would see his son again and this time nothing in the known universe was going to keep them apart.

“Oh my precious child, we’ll be together and you’ll learn who you really are. You have a great destiny ahead of you, Ianto, because just like me you have been both blessed and burdened with a glorious purpose. I promise you that once we are together we will be unstoppable!”

The End


End file.
